Cup of Tea
by imafangirlforever
Summary: Tenroujima had left the remaining members of Fairy Tail shaken, regretful, and undoubtedly alone. Quitting the guild, she wandered until she found a new purpose...a new guild. And former Fairy Tail member or not, she was going to do her hardest to protect Blue Pegasus with all she had. OC/?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Fairy Tail_ nor anything relating to it, or anything mentioned in this story rather than Ava. The same goes for the rest of the chapters.**

* * *

**Revival**

_by: imafangirlforever_

* * *

"_Has that idiot been bothering you again?" He sat next to her on the dock, letting his legs dangle dangerously close to the cold ocean. The sea was peaceful as the waves came to the shore and back out, and the dark waters mirrored the moonlight so serenely it seemed unearthly. She didn't move or flinch at his sudden motion, instead just giving a defeated sigh that didn't seem like her as she fiddled with her bracelets, an action Gray had become used to in the years she had been in Fairy Tail._

"_I wish I could come too." She admitted, eyes lowered as she refused to look him in the eye. She watched the waves, waiting for his response. Gray had always been the one to listen to her: to hear her opinions when she was feeling down. Over the years, she had learned to value the navy blue-haired boy's opinion, and he had learned to value hers. It wasn't out of any meeting by chance that they had become this way: it just happened that they were probably the most sane in their guild, and sane people stuck with other sane people._

_Gray wasn't exactly sure how to reply to that, so he shrugged casually and commented, "There's always next year, right? I think Master was just waiting until you were a little older."_

"_But Erza was my age when she was promoted!" She protested deeply, waving her hands extravagantly as she gestured back in the direction of the guild._

"_Yeah, well…" He gazed at the sea in thought, thinking of the injuries he had noticed Erza spotting after taking her S-Class exam. Her entire pale body, usually spotless, was littered with bruises and cuts as she had staggered off of the boat coming back from Tenroujima, the red head's magic severely depleted. "It doesn't hurt to wait a little longer."_

_She huffed, the cool breeze ruffling through her hair and sending it flying to the side. She adjusted some of the hair that flew into her face before turning back to him, honey eyes narrowed and mouth pulled into a frown. "I know. It's just...I have this weird feeling about this, you know?"_

"_No." His mouth twitched upwards as he gave her a small smirk. She was worrying about _them _the whole time? Heh, she always was soft. "I don't."_

"_Gray, you know sometimes you can be very irritating," she said fondly, eyebrow twitching._

"_I know."_

"_Well…" She turned to face him, her amber eyes locking on to his dark blue, and Gray couldn't help but notice the slightly dangerous look in her eyes and how heavy the atmosphere was. "Just promise me you'll come back safely."_

"_Tch, I can't promise that. Flame Brain will probably-"_

"_Promise," she said sternly, holding her pinky finger out childishly, making Gray sigh and agreeing to indulge in her wish._

"_Promise."_

_A wide grin began to spread across her face, and she hugged him tightly before standing up, pointing her finger at him, her eyes lit as she said, "Okay then, I'm holding you to that. The next time the boat comes back from Tenroujima you'd better be waving back at me. One month, got that? No more, no less."_

"_You sound like Natsu."_

"_Well?" She raised her eyebrows challengingly, ignoring his remark about the pinkette as they looked at each other straight in the eye, each gaze refusing to waver. His mouth twitched upwards as his lips moved to form his words to her._

"_Of course."_

_(Nearly a month later, all that is left is the remains of the shocked guild. A single tear slides down her cheek as she whispers nearly inaudibly, "He broke his promise.")_

_(A few days later, no one is surprised-more like just saddened-when the black haired girl asks to quit the guild.)_

_(If she had known they would be back, would she have stayed?)_

* * *

**Year X789 (two years before X791)**

In the more run-down part of town, crowds brimmed with life as people rushed about. Several people, clad in natural colors of brown and black, flocked to the entrance of a small bar, a sign hanging on the door identifying itself as the _Midnight's Delight_.

The wooden door would swing open and closed as people entered and exited, and Eve couldn't help but notice that there were more people coming in than out. Curious, he whispered to his partner for his mission, "Do you think that's the suspicious place the client was talking about?"

His partner was Riko Applico, a particularly pretty girl that was very cold to everyone. Eve couldn't fathom why she joined their guild when she acted like she hated it, but a job was a job. Hibiki, Ren, and Ichiya were in the hospital wing from their last mission when they tried hitting on some girls that had powerful punches, so he had to have someone to do the mission with. It had happened that Riko was the only person free at the time, so they had gone to see the client together.

Their client, a burly man who for some reason insisted there was some magic or sorcery happening in his town, had hired them to find the source and stop it. There were always those kinds of paranoid clients; Eve had learned just to appease them and put on a show later about how they had defeated whatever foe that had done the crime. Of course, there were always the exceptions when it was actually the work of a mage.

Riko shrugged, giving a small grunt. "You go check it out. I will continue."

"Okay…" Eve looked doubtfully at the bar for a moment before smiling at his partner. "I'll meet you back at the inn later."

"…" He received no response except for a slight nod of the head before the girl turned and walked away with a flourish.

Eve turned back to the entrance of the bar, and taking a small breath, went inside. He observed everything around him, noting that he felt something _off_ about this place.

Brilliant lights of pink, teal, and orange shone on the faces of awed onlookers as they watched what was going on before them. A girl, about the age of 20, danced with the stealth of a panther as she leaped about the small wooden stage at the corner of the room. She was dressed in loose attire, gold bangles decorating her arms and legs and complimenting her amber-brown eyes. One gold bracelet that seemed to have some kind of stone engraved in it hung on her right wrist. Her hair, a coal black, was tied into a single braid that flew as she danced across the stage.

Their eyes met for a moment, and she tensed for a moment before resuming her dance with even more vigor. It finally came to an end, the music fading as she bowed while the crowd enthusiastically applauded and whistled in her favor.

She smiled a calculating, yet warm, smile and bowed again before getting off the stage. The bar quickly resumed their usual mood, with men pounding their mugs and guffawing as barmaids frantically rushed around, pouring refills of the amber liquid. If not for the presence of the girl, Eve would've already left. This place was obviously a rendezvous point for the assembly of the lower class of society, and he refused to partake in this nonsense. His eyes searched the room before seeing a flash of gold. His feet moved before his mind did, and soon he was walking alongside the girl as she exited the bar, her face now a mask.

"Hello there."

"Ah, it's you," she said with distaste. "Eve Tearm of Blue Pegasus, correct? And to what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

"Join our guild!" Eve blurted out suddenly.

The girl looked up in mild surprise, and she tucked a stray strand of black hair as she asked, "What?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she seemed to analyze him before taking a neutral expression.

"Join our guild."

Her mouth twitched upwards a fraction, and he wasn't sure if it was because she was entertained by his offer or excited.

Eve wasn't stupid, and he knew that offering a random person a spot in one of Fiore's top guilds wasn't very smart, but as soon as he spotted the strangely intricate white bracelet and golden eyes he knew who this person was.

"You're the Golden Mage, right? The Independent Mage who's supposedly taken more than a thousand missions, and used to be part of the number one guild, Fairy Tail?"

"Eh? You think I'm the Golden Mage?" She paused, then said more softly. "Oh the irony…" She stifled a chuckle. Yes, that was definitely a smirk forming in her face as she gave a sigh before giving him a conniving look. "Who knows? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

Two could play at that game. "Eh~? But I want the famous _Golden Mage_ to be my onee-chan! You are her, right?"

Thanks to him raising his voice, the pair had caught several people's attention. The girl's eyes darted from side to side, her left hand unconsciously hovering to her right wrist as she inhaled sharply.

"Eve." A voice sounded from his left, and the tall figure of Riko appeared as she watched him with cool eyes. "Do not make a scene here."

"But—" he protested, but she cut him off by taking him by the arm and dragging him away from the scene. His eyes locked once more with his newly-made acquaintance, and she smiled amusedly and lifted her hand in a gesture of farewell. He huffed, annoyed, but allowed himself to be taken away.

_Until next time._

* * *

_Eh, that was interesting._ The girl sighed, and allowed herself to smile a little as she walked to the entrance, or exit, of the town. She hummed a faint tune under her breath as she slung her home over her shoulder. Her home, or her suitcase to be more exact, was crammed with different little magical trinkets she had picked up at a few stores. A few specialized scrolls, a nifty diamond ring with a hidden compartment, and a few nice pieces of jewelry she planned to barter with once she reached the next town.

She fingered her moonstone bracelet, fingers tracing over the names etched in the stone wistfully. _Ava and Mia- Sisters forever_

The silence that accompanied her was almost eerie. She supposed she had gotten used to the lively atmosphere of the bar.

_She'd miss it._

She pushed away the thought, bothered, and glanced down at the map in her hands. Where should she go next? She debated the question for a little before deciding to close her eyes and pick at random. Her finger jabbed at a random spot, and she opened her eyes and looked down to see the bright letters: _MAGNOLIA_.

_How ironic._

She hesitated for a moment, but then shrugged. The past was the past, and she was bound to pass it again after travelling so long.

…

…

…

...right?

She turned swiftly, heading in the direction of her old home.

* * *

Magnolia had always been a busy town of much activity, mirroring the atmosphere of their main guild. The city's occupants had gotten used to strange occurrences like men flying out of a building; it was all in the usual Fairy Tail gusto, after all. So when a woman randomly entered the town, no one said anything about it.

Ava Lucioni, age 20, observed the city with an almost fond look as she recalled everything around her and the events that had taken place in the town. She had donned some sunglasses and a long-sleeved blue blouse that mainly covered her bracelets—for safety measures, she reassured herself—and sported a nice straw hat. Adorning her wrists were silver bracelets decorated with moonstone designs, her name and her sister's name engraved onto it. She fiddled with them absentmindedly for a moment before smiling.

"It's been a while…" she said faintly, vaguely remembering that the square she was in was where Natsu had first challenged Erza to a duel. Her mouth twitched upwards as she remembered the red-head and pinkette. If only they could see her now. She had grown strong: stronger since when they first found her, dirty and beaten as she staggered into the guild hall desperately. Definitely. She was stronger now.

Her eyes turned reminiscent as she unconsciously stroked a strand of her hair. She blinked, startled, and realized that her feet had started to take her in the direction of her former guild. She immediately stopped herself, but stiffened at the sound of a high, distinctively feminine voice.

"Ava! Ah, Ava, is it you? Ava Lucioni?"

She turned around slowly, caught, and tried for a smile as she fiddled with her fingers nervously. "Hello Laki."

Her friend had grown over the years: she was now well endowed, and her hair reached her waist and was tied back with a red ribbon. She was wearing a light colored mantle over her rather revealing blue dress, and Ava's eyes traced the low V-neck as she sighed. Of course her guildmates would change after her not seeing them in so long. The purple-haired girl beamed, and before Ava could react, ran forward and hugged her friend tightly. "It's so nice to see you again! You chopped your hair! Did you feed your stomach yet? Where did you go? _Why_ did you go? Gosh, can you imagine the guild's reactions when they learn you're back?"

"Laki," the girl cut off sternly, prying off her hands as she sighed. "I…I'm not in Magnolia to rejoin the guild. I just was passing by."

"B-but you've been gone forever! Everyone misses you."

Ava's head jerked upwards and nearly hit her purple-haired friend as she tensed. She had just felt some kind of magic that had felt too familiar for her own good. But the strange feeling vanished as quickly as it came, and she turned her attention back to Laki who was staring at her curiously, dismissing it as an effect of having too little sleep.

"I'm sure they've managed." Ava bit her lip for a moment before letting her curiosity get the best of her. "Say, did anything new happen while I was gone?"

"Eh? Well, the usual I suppose." Laki flashed her a weak smile, and Ava knew that her friend had been missing the old guild just as much as she had. She felt a flash of an emotion she couldn't quite identify. Shame? Guilt? Perhaps a mixture of both? "We miss you."

"Ah, I see." A flash of pity welled in her chest for the poor girl, but she quickly pushed it away and forced a polite smile. "Well, I'd best be going. I'm probably going to head to some new town like Lavek: I heard the tea there's amazing."

"You're not going to stay?" The disappointment in Laki's voice was obvious as she stared at Ava. "Everyone would love to see you again."

Ava shook her head again. "It's fine, thank you."

"It's just," Laki hesitated, her eyes saddened as her shoulders slumped. "It's not the same without everyone."

She looked like a kicked puppy. Ava's body moved instinctively, and before she knew it she had embraced her friend. She inhaled, a scent of fresh lavender invading her senses, the familiar feeling warming her as she whispered, "I'm sorry, Laki."

And before her old friend could protest any further, she disappeared into the crowd of strangers, a hand outstretched to signal her goodbye.

(She didn't think that she'd see her friend again so soon, several months later when she stood in front of the guild as everyone was welcomed home.)


	2. Chapter 2

"_The cherry blossoms are pretty this year, aren't they?" A voice resounded from her left, and she gave him a faint smile as her golden eyes reverted to the array of colorful petals falling all around her, glowing translucently as they shifted shades. All around her were sounds of celebration: cries of joy, laughter, and good-intentioned conversations. A tree, grand and overtowering, was planted in the center of the square. Several mugs, filled with amber liquid, were quickly emptied as mouthes loosened by alcohol began to whisper and joke around as the festivities continued._

_Several mages of Fairy Tail, including a triumphant Erza, were mulling over their winnings from the annual Hanami Bingo, while others were looking down with their shoulders slumped from defeat. Some had gone off to wander to the bars, joining Cana as they blocked out their disappointment. Even so, their friends quickly came over to cheer them up, and laughter filled the air. It was happy. It was nice._

_... it was home, Ava thought, her eyelids closing as she breathed in the fresh smell of flowers with the tiniest tinge of alcohol (no thanks to Cana, the lovable drunkard). And it wouldn't be home without all of the people around her, including the person standing beside her at the moment. She felt a warm feeling in her chest as he moved to stand next to her, shoulder to shoulder, as they gazed silently at the glowing Rainbow Blossom tree. The moment felt like it would never end, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she hoped it never had to._

"_It's always beautiful, every year." She answered, her eyes fond as she broke the silence, and she motioned for him to sit down beside her on the cold wooden bench. He did as she asked, sitting next to her, and she nearly jumped at the warm presence. Instead, she just sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, not even caring about the slight pink dusting across her companion's cheeks as his gaze turned to her. "I wish it'll stay like this forever."_

"_You know, if you keep saying that, you'll jinx it." He chided softly, not bothered in the least by her pouting expression as he relaxed slightly, his body loosening as the tension escaped. There were only a few people that he could really feel relaxed with, and it was both surprising and unsurprising that one of those people was Ava._

"_Well, Gray?" She asked, finally saying his name for the first time in their mostly silent conversation. "What can I say? Home is home."_

"_The world's always changing." His gaze was somewhere far away now, as he looked past the falling cherry blossom petals and to the sky. She tilted her head at an angle too so she could see what he was seeing, and the beauty of it almost caught her breath. The sky was dark, eternal, and breathtaking (as always, she added in her head). The stars in the sky, their glimmer slightly dimmed by the festive lights below them, shone like precious gemstones, illuminating the light just like the moon which was partially hidden by some gray clouds._

"_The world _is _always changing," she confirmed, eyes still upwards. The clouds were starting to move to the left, letting the moon illuminate the courtyard with its celestial light. "And so are we. But our memories?" She hesitated before continuing, locking eyes with him as they stared at each other as her words turned into a whisper. "Our memories will never change."_

_A smile touched his lips, and they moved to say his next statement to her. "That's true."_

_Both of their gazes turned upwards once more, and their mouths moved in unison as they whispered words they thought the other couldn't hear as their voices turned dark. "But I'm afraid things are already starting to move forward too fast."_

* * *

_Well that was anticlimactic._ Ava mused. She ignored the nagging voice in her head that scolded her for leaving so rudely and not even checking on her old comrades. She couldn't face them. Not yet. And she definitely couldn't return to the guild, or what was left of it. It brought back too many memories: even the trip to Magnolia's central square was enough to make her chest ache and yearn for what she couldn't have anymore. As she traveled down the winding dirt road, she passed several other travelers, of who she would nod a polite greeting before traveling on. The area was reasonably safe: both Magnolia and Lavek had semi-low crime rates because of the presence of the towns' main guilds.

Lavek was the hometown of Lamia Scale, another top-guild-in-the-making. It was about a day's walk from Magnolia however, and Ava hadn't taken the trouble to schedule a train ride or any other method of transportation. If Ava recalled correctly, several talented mages had already been recruited personally by the guild master (or, in this case, mistress). Rumors that she had caught from late nights at a bar, sitting alone and hunched over a cup of tea as her ears caught bits of conversation that was loosened by alcohol, said that the wizards were on par with Fairy Tail's Titania. Ava snorted at the thought of that. Talented or not, no one could match the red-haired girl's fury (and she had gotten enough personal experience to know that).

She took light, delicate steps along the road, her tread a hushed one. Out towards the horizon, she could see the blurry shape of an inn come into view and decided to retire for the night. She quickened her pace: night was falling. Everything was silent around her as she continued to pace herself, her breath coming out in little puffs of white air that were visible in the cold night. The moon was starting to make its way up into the sky as the Sun retired, its last yellow beams of light shining upon Ava as the sky turned a darker shade.

Ava arrived, breathless, in front of the wooden door of the inn. She raised a hand and knocked out of habit before pushing it open and entering. A small wisp of warm air rushed past her, warming her face, and she observed that a fireplace was lit and several people were lounging on chairs around it. Ava turned to the front desk, requesting softly as she smiled kindly at the elderly woman who gave her a toothy grin. "A room for one please."

"That'll be 7000 jewels." The woman prodded at her bag, nodding at Ava's face as she raised an eyebrow, her pale hair whitened from age falling to her shoulders as she asked, "What's a nice young gal' like you doing out here so late alone?"

"Travelling," Ava replied wistfully, sighing, her hands fingering her own dark black locks. Her hand slipped to the bag of coins tied securely to her waist and she set down a few silver coins, murmuring a, 'thank you' as she was handed her keys.

Seeing as one seat by the fireplace was unoccupied, and considering her rather sore muscles from the long walk, Ava plopped herself down on one of the forest green chairs, setting her suitcase to her left. The rest of the people paid her no mind, and her eyes darted from side to side as she looked at the people around her.

To Ava's right was a boy lazily spread on the sofa in a relaxed manner as he gave her a small smirk. He raised his dark hand and flipped his black hair with exuberance only few possessed. Meeting her gaze, he flushed and quickly turned away. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized who exactly she was sitting with right now as her head turned to see the other occupants of the room. An arm from behind her, pale but firm, set a hand on her shoulders and she nearly jumped in surprise.

Her face tilted upwards to see the towering face of Hibiki Lates. "Why, hello there beautiful," he said, smiling charmingly at her. She showed no outside reaction, but her inside was reeling from shock as she turned to look at the rest. He had another teammate: the one who seemed to react to her presence the most.

The blonde, a petite boy who looked in his teens, stared open mouthed at her. He closed it, then opened it again as he gaped at her. Stammering as he tried to grasp a coherent thought, he finally said, "A-Ava Lucioni?"

_Play it cool._

"I'm honored the great Eve Tearm has heard of me." She smiled, leaning back on the plush seat cushion as the rest of his teammates' attentions turned to her. Hibiki wisely removed his arm from her shoulder as he opted to stand behind the chair his blonde teammate was sitting on. "Need something from me?"

"I don't suppose you've considered my offer, have you?" He asked, fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve as her gaze rested on him, and she admired the fact that even though he looked uncomfortable, he met her gaze unwaveringly. Her amber eyes were unnerving: calculating, as if looking for something. Then her demeanor changed entirely as she tilted her head cutely and blinked. All three members of the Trimens (excluding Ichiya) stared at her for a moment, mentally sighing in relief that Ichiya was still unrecovered from his wounds and he wasn't here to scare off a potential member.

"What offer?" The words slipped out of her mouth as she looked at him, clueless about what he was talking about.

Eve nearly fell over, Hibiki and Ren almost doing the same. "The one I gave you after I pursued you once you left the bar after dancing. About joining our guild"

Her eyes rounded, and for a second there was a flicker of emotion in her eyes Eve couldn't recognize as her breath fluttered as she uttered a whisper, "Mia."

_She's alive?_

But then that moment was gone, and she regained her composure and shook her head as she plastered on a fake grin. "I'm no dancer. I guess you must have met the wrong person: I've definitely never worked at a bar for that kind of thing." Her mind was on overload, simply thinking in short fragments. _Get away. Need to think. Get away._

Stretching her limbs, weary from the long walk, she smiled at the group and stood up, glad that she managed to retain her cool politeness. "Well, if that's all, I'm retiring to bed. It's been an honor meeting you all."

* * *

As soon as she entered the room, a gust of fresh air hit her as the magic-run air conditioning turned on. She flipped the light switch on, and began observing her room.

It wasn't a particularly large one: just one that would accommodate one person just fine. Considering the price, Ava would consider it a bargain. A nice tan reading chair was in the corner near the window, shaded by forest green curtains. A mahogany desk and chair, along with a drawer to put her clothes in was to another side of the room. And, of course, a nightstand was positioned near her bed: the comforter and pillows already looking inviting as they urged her to fall asleep.

Suppressing the urge to yawn, Ava reached into her bag and pulled out two picture frames and set them on the nightstand so she could look at them later-this action was half out of habit, and half out of the fact that she needed some reassurance after what Eve had just revealed to her.

Her eyes roamed to the picture of two girls, nearly identical, standing side to side as they beamed at the camera, both pairs of amber eyes shining.

There had only been one dancer in Ava's family: and it definitely wasn't her.

Ava turned to the door, her footsteps light as she locked it tightly before switching out of her rather worn and dirty clothes that had suffered with her through her journey to the city. She then turned off the lights, knowing she had a packed day for tomorrow, especially since the Trimens were there, and she'd need all the sleep she could get.

She slipped into bed, clearing her mind of thoughts about sisters and idiots, an action well known to her body after so many unsuccessful attempts and shut her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep.

* * *

...she thought she heard something. Her eyes opened sleepily, taking in the fact that there were a few blurry figures in front of her before closing again, almost back in the peaceful trance of sleeping.

...

…

"Good morning _nee-chan_!"

…

…

…

Ava bolted upwards, now awake as her head nearly snapped as it moved back and forth, her eyes taking in that there were _three young men_ in her bedroom as her expression slowly lost all its color as she pursed her lips. "H-hello. Can I...help you with something?"

"Why _yes_, yes you can," Ren purred, stroking her chin before she jerked backwards-nearly hitting the bedpost in the process-and out of his grasp. He pouted, looking like a kicked puppy before suddenly blushing and rubbing the back of his head, avoiding her confused gaze. "B-but it's not like we _need _your help or anything."

"What. Do. You. _Want_?" She hissed, her body tensing as she shoved Ren off of her as she glared at them. Her more hotheaded side was starting to resurface, and she tried to calm herself by taking a deep breath as she waited for any of them to respond to her question. She was highly aware of the fact that she was wearing little-to-nothing: just some pink lingerie and a white nightgown. This situation was sort of like how it was back _then_, before the infamous S-Class exam of x784 happened. Back when she was still part of a team, working with other people to complete a job instead of on her own like now. The only difference was _she_ snuck into someone else's apartment, not the other way around.

"Just a chat." Hibiki hummed innocently as he avoided her furious gaze.

"Well, we can _chat_ later," Ava spat, waving at them with the back of her hand in a shooeing manner as she pointed to the exit of the room, the door suspiciously closed which led her to wondering how they got in when she knew she locked the door last night. "When you all are _not_ in my bedroom and I'm properly dressed."

"Well, we can't help with the properly dressed part…" Hibiki tapped his chin nonchalantly, seemingly deep in thought. He snapped his fingers, grinning as his partners as he continued, "But we _can_ help with the bedroom part."

Before she could utter a sound of protest, Ava was (quite literally) swept off her feet by them as Ren lifted her over his shoulder as they whisked her away.

…

…

...

"W-wait, what just happened?" Ava stammered, half in awe and half in shock as she stared at the three boys, noting sourly that they had brought her behind the inn, she barely had any time to react, and the Sun wasn't even up yet. She was never really an early riser.

"You said we couldn't talk while we were in your bedroom, so we brought you _out_." Hibiki explained simply, smiling a little as she growled. "You see, we have a preposition with you."

The idea that _Hibiki Lates_ of all people was offering her something was strange enough that she stopped her hostile behavior enough to ask, "What?"

"Blue Pegasus is, as you know, a rising power as one of the best guilds in Fiore. We, however, are admittedly not the _best_ of the best." Hibiki paused, letting Ava digest the information for a minute. "I know that it's very sudden, but we would love it if a young talented wizard like you joined our guild and became one of our _nakama_." He watched as the girl flinched as she heard his last word.

"_And_ we wouldn't mind if someone as beautiful as you joined," Ren added slyly as Eve nodded vigorously at his teammate's declarations saying something like, "_Nee-chan's _very pretty."

"So, what do you say?" Hibiki asked.

"Will you…" Ren continued.

"Join us?" Eve finished, smiling happily at the black-haired girl as she blinked at them, taking everything in. Things were moving _way_ too fast for her liking. "You could be my _onee-chan_!"

"We're probably the same age," Ava pointed out dully with no avail as the boys chattered excitedly amongst themselves as they waited for her decision. It was a bit presumptuous of them to just ask her like that without a background check, but she faintly remembered that she had met them once or twice during Fairy Tail's effort to defeat Oracion Seis. A flash of blue, pink, and red hair hit her eyes before it was gone. A smile, a hand held out just for her.

Everything was over now. Fairy Tail wasn't the guild it used to be anymore. Ava stared at Hibiki's outstretched hand as he smiled charmingly at her, the action eerily similar to what she had just remembered. "So what do you say?"

A part of her wanted to turn around and huff, "Oh, screw you." Another part of her wanted to punch him in the face for interrupting her sleep for _this._ But another part of her...well… Unconsciously, her hand lifted itself and began to hover above his, but a sudden memory stopped her from taking it.

**.**

"_Oi! Ava, let's go on a quest together!"_

**.**

They were gone now. Her hand inched closer, longing for a chance to have that kind of experience again. A team. A guild. _Nakama_. It had been so long, _too_ long since she had last been part of a guild, and a greedy part of her wanted to be part of one again.

**.**

"_Tch, flame brain. Stop being so loud. You're probably bothering her. Right Ava?"_

**.**

They were _gone_ now, she reminded herself, her chest aching as she thought of the two idiots she had come to know. Yet she couldn't bring herself to shake that hand...not yet…

.

"_You are our nakama, Ava. Always, no matter what." They chorused, smiling at her and waving as the boat set off for Tenroujima Island._

**.**

"Sure." Her hand slipped into his, and the motion felt so natural that Ava didn't think too much about it as they tightened their grip slightly. All three boys' faces brightened, and they each reached over to pat a warm hand on her back.

.

"Welcome to the team, Ava Lucioni."


	3. Chapter 3

**End of x790, beginning of x791**

"_They're coming."_

_Footsteps sounded in the distance as two figures huddled in a small closet, breathing lightly as if one sudden movement would cause their doom, and darkly they knew that was the closest to the truth of the matter. One of them suddenly stood up, amber eyes shining defiantly, turning around as her voice resounded clearly in the silence. "Stay here. I'll go."_

_The other figure stifled something that sounded between a gasp and a sob, her identical golden eyes widening as she said with a rushed whisper, "N-no! They'll kill you. They'll k-kill you, just like…just like…" Visions of two bodies, fingers intertwined as scarlet liquid spilled on the ground filled her mind._

"_Mom and Dad?" The girl finished, a bitter smile crossing over her face as she leaned down to pat her sibling on the head. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."_

"_Stop lying to me. T-this is all my fault. They're after _me_, so just let me go. I was the one who decided to go to that house anyways—"_

"_Stop," the other girl cut her off. "I'm the elder sibling here. I'm responsible for your safety now that our parents are gone."_

"_You're older than me by what, two minutes? Besides, they already saw me. They know who they're looking for." She hiccupped, and then continued. "P-please don't leave me alone too."_

_Her sister's eyes softened by a fraction before hardening with a determination in them that the girl could hardly recognize, and she leaned down to ruffle her hair. Her resolve was unwavering. "I need to do this, Ava."_

"_B-but Mia!"_

"_It's alright. Since we're twins they won't realize the difference between you and I anyways." She slid the door of the closet open by a fraction, allowing light to illuminate her face. She put a finger to her lips, an almost serene expression coming across her face. "I'll see you later."_

* * *

It had been about 6 months since she had joined the Trimens, and reaching the 6 year mark since Tenroujima. Since then, Ava had grown closer to the group, their happiness and laughter enticing her.

"You know, that if you ever need a spot in a guild if you decide to quit Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale's always open."

"I know. But I'm fine with my team right now. We work well together." With Eve's long-ranged/scale Snow Magic attacking groups of monsters, Hibiki's finesse and strategy when it came to missions, Ichiya's support Perfume Magic and general knowledge in hand-to-hand-combat, and Ren's Air Magic that made the perfect compliment to both Eve's and her magic, they were an unbeatable team. Especially when it came to their teamwork, something that was lacking when she was at Fairy Tail. Ava smiled, humming thoughtfully as her fingers drummed against the glass-rimmed table in a comforting rhythmic pattern. She was at a cafe, sipping a nice cup of Earl's Gray Tea as she stared across the table at the fellow mage. She had encountered Lyon on one of her missions with her new team-the Trimens- and the two had somehow managed to slip out from their group and rendezvous at the small cafe at the corner of a bakery. She observed the place, it rather clean and nice while not overly expensive or extravagant. It had a sort of modest feeling about it that was challenge. "This cafe's quite charming, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

She knew that Eve or Hibiki would have noticed her absence by this time, and soon the whole team would grow into a panicked state as they would search for her throughout the town. Lyon's team would probably do the same for him. She shrugged mentally. The mission was an easy one: track down a group of thieves who had been terrorizing the citizens of the small town. The thieves were low-leveled mages, and although quite strong in civilian standards, she was sure that her team could take them with no problem. She did hear that they all dyed their hair a rather magnificent shade of salmon pink (for some reason), an action she couldn't help but frown upon. Pink was always Natsu's color. "How's Sherry's cousin, Cheria?"

"She shows a lot of promise." Lyon twitched, wondering why the amber-eyed mage had brought up the pink-haired girl.

"You do know she has a crush on you?" She sipped her tea nonchalantly as Lyon nearly fell over comically before regaining his composure. It was a wonder he could do that so easily, and Ava often wondered how he was able to get back in his role so quickly. A trained actor, he was. That was something she had to respect.

"So that's why she's been acting like that…" Lyon muttered as Ava gave him a mocking shake of the head, fingering a strand of her raven hair as she sighed comically.

"Now, Lyon, what are we ever going to do with you?"

"Wrong again. It's more like, Ava…" His dark eyes seemed to search through her skull, looking for something that she knew didn't exist. The way he said her name sent shivers down her spine, and she shifted uncomfortably as her hands clasped together. "What are we going to do with you?" The silence following was deafening, and it was finally broken by Ava.

"Hahaha, Ly-Leo. That was real funny!" She giggled, rubbing the back of her head flirtatiously as she winked at him, subtly gesturing to the new arrival of customers with strangely colored salmon hair, her eyes flashing as if saying play along before resuming her dreamy look, noting that all of the people in the cafe had nervously shied away from the group of thieves, eyeing their pink hair warily.

"Indeed. Do you like this?" He raised his eyebrows daringly, smirking at her as he leaned closer so that she could feel his breath on her face. The action was so out of character for the Ice Mage that she momentarily paused, too stunned to do anything before a smirk played on her face. He was always a good one when it came to masking his feelings. They stayed there for one glorious moment, faces nearly an inch away from the other, before Ava blinked and Lyon leaned back again, the former trying to get rid of the feeling of the several lecherous gazes she had felt from the poorly disguised thieves. It looked like she'd beaten her team to the objective.

"Stay focused." She whispered before plastering on her fake smile again, an action that could only be done with years of accumulated practice, sighing romantically as she held her hand to her chest. "Oh, Leo, we should go to the park. It would be so...romantic." Any occupants of the room who had been staring at them before for their rather loud flirting turned back around and resumed their regular business except for the thieves, who were greedily eyeing Ava's bracelets-a rare silver with moonstone embedded in it.

"Alright." He raised his hand for the waiter to bring the bill over, and after taking some Jewels out of a pouch in a theatrical gesture that made the thieves' eyes watch his hands transfixed, paid for himself and Ava. The girl made a mental note to pay him back later (although, somewhere inside her she knew that he would refuse to take any money she offered him: men were always so prideful in that way). "Shall we go?"

Lyon held out to crook of his elbow-like a proper gentleman, she thought amusedly-and she locked her hand with his as the two strolled out of the cafe casually, very aware of the people trailing them. He led her to a rather secluded area right on the edge of the town near the woods, and gestured for her to sit down on one of the wooden benches. "Beautiful," she commented idly as she sat down with him, letting her head lean against his shoulder as her grip on his hand tightened as she felt a presence coming close to them from behind.

It was completely serene. The birds were chirping, the air was fresh and pure, and the leaves moved and rustled in the wind as light shone through the canopy of green that was above them. They sat there for a moment, the air peaceful and tranquil, before everything literally turned to Hell.

"Ava-chan! I heard that you were seen strolling around in a not-so-casual manner with some handsome young gentleman! Is this true-" Hibiki's demand was cut off by the sudden movement of what must have been at least two dozen thieves jumping from the shadows, and both Ava and Lyon immediately stood up and assumed their fighting stance.

"Why, yes Hibiki-kun, I was with a rather handsome gentleman," Ava chirped as she winked at Lyon, continuing in her mock-afraid voice as she put her hands to her chest as she let out a terrified gasp. "But it seems like our wonderfully romantic date has been cut off by a bunch of criminals! Oh, what shall we do?"

"I do not know." Lyon deadpanned, his eyes flat as he nonchalantly kicked a criminal who was trying to jump him from behind in the head. "Maybe we should get help."

The whole team of thieves was assembled by then, a large burly group of mainly men (although she did see a few women) all equipped with some kind of magic or weapon and Ava couldn't help but gasp. "Oh, my. So many strong ladies and gentlemen all here just to rob silly old me? I'm honored." Unconsciously, her hand inched towards her sealing-scrolls, ready to use them at any moment. Her magic was Sealing Magic, which basically allowed her to seal any attack that came flying towards her or sap a captured mage's magic and store it in a scroll for future use. It also allowed her to seal magic briefly in some other object, but she had to move quickly and seal it into a scroll once the battle was over. There were a few downsides, like how she always had to keep several scrolls in stock and on her at all times, along with the fact that it could backfire on her. It wasn't the best to use it in a full-scale battle, but she supposed she would have to make do.

Mentally, Ava ran over her inventory. She had a few scrolls she had recently acquired from the last mission they had, her nearly unlimited stock of all the different types of magic her team and her old team had, several storage scrolls of weapons, a few empty scrolls, and one bottle of ink in the bag that was weighing against her left side. She cursed, stuffing all the things that were in the bag into one storage scroll, holding that in her left hand as she flung her bag to the side to make sure it wouldn't get caught in the upcoming scuffle.

"Cut the crap." One of the thieves growled, his hand shifting towards his weapon-a magic enhanced pistol, it seemed-as his comrades tensed, waiting for his call. It seemed like he was the leader. "We had heard that someone's asked the big guilds to come down, but we didn't expect Blue Pegasus's Trimens and Lamia Scale's Team Lyon to come."

"What can you say? You steal from people, they'll eventually get back at you." Hibiki shrugged, his face still turned down into a scowl but his eyes narrowed and focused. "I'm afraid we can't allow you to continue hurting this town."

"And technically, our team wasn't here for you. We just happened to be in town returning from one of our missions," Cheria added helpfully, and it seemed as if all of the mages had gathered as well.

"Just give up, it won't end well." Eve probably said those words with good _intention_, but it seemed like that seemed to heighten the tension and anger even more and Ava put her hand on his shoulder, waiting for the other party's decision. Everything was now at a tense standoff, all ready to draw weapons of start their spells before the man made the first move, drawing his pistol and firing towards Cheria, the small girl nimbly dodging as she took in a deep gulp of air as she prepared to counter.

"Attack!"

It was a flurry of movement, and Ren was thrust into the battlefield with that one word as at least 5 men came rushing specifically to attack him. One of the men was wielding a giant battleaxe as he grinned, bloodthirst in his eyes as Ren wondered how in the world was the mission ranked as a regular job as he dodged the first strike before spinning around in a quick circle, pointing his hands at the group of enemies as they were enveloped by a cyclone. "Aerial Phose!"

"Ichiya...san…" Ava managed over the sound of explosions and metal against metal as she voiced Ren's thoughts, her black locks being thrown into the air as she gripped her sword a little tighter. They were lucky there weren't any civilians around otherwise they could have been hurt. Ava sent a mental thanks to Lyon for having the insight to bring them to such a secluded area of the town. "What...mission...rank...was...this?"

"S-Class, men~" He sparkled as he pranced around, barely avoiding a spear one of the thieves thrust at him. "Power perfume!" His muscles began to bulge and grow in size massively as he swung an oversized fist at an enemy as he continued to talk to his team. "These thieves took advantage of mages that were coming back home tired from their quests and often attacked and killed them. Did I not tell you?"

"NO!" Came the unison cry of his teammates, and the man almost pouted at the response but quickly sobered.

"How mean… I am a well qualified S-Class mage and will definitely keep you safe, men." His comment was ignored by all four, and he sighed dejectedly before swiping at another enemy who tried to take advantage of his disposition.

"Sorry...about...this...Lyon…" Ava panted as she swirled around to parry an enemy with a sword she had unsealed. She was never the best at swords, but competent enough she wouldn't be killed on the first blow (thanks to a certain red-head). There was a small respite in the battle in which she took advantage of by shuffling through her main storage scroll, her hand entering in it as it disappeared from view and searching for one scroll in specific, still keeping an eye out for any incoming attack. As her hand closed around a familiar scroll, a smile began to spread across her face before she ducked, narrowly dodging a deadly blast of some kind of poison as she unsealed the scroll. "Seal of Immunity, activate!"

A gold glow surrounded her friends for a moment before it dissipated and Ava knew they'd be fine against the Poison-user. Ichiya had his Pain-Relieving Perfume, but it didn't work on poison which was why Ava had to find something to fill that weakness. Eventually she had encountered a Healing-based mage who had been using his talents to rob the people and sealed most of his magic in several scrolls. It would eventually recover again, so she wasn't too worried about the man who they had left stranded, ridded of Magic, in the middle of a particularly angry mob who had been robbed by the mage. "It only lasts for about thirty minutes, and I don't have any more of that magic stored," Ava warned before drawing a seal in the air before a wave of lightning hit it, the character glowing for a second before sealing and unsealing the attack, effectively reflecting it, as she heard pained cries. "Just give up already, dammit."

"You know they won't." Lyon suddenly appeared in the midst of the battle alongside her, and the familiar presence was a comfort in the world of explosions that rocked the earth as she braced herself and parried another attack with her sword. The metal gave out a small creak before snapping in half and she tossed it aside.

"Try to knock them out." Ava winced as a sword managed to get a light cut on her cheek, the pain reminding her of where she was. She was on a battlefield, there was no time to get distracted, especially since she had brought another team into the disaster. Her eyes hardened as she unsealed another scroll of Flame Magic, her supply of the magic nearly unlimited considering how long she had been working with Natsu.

"I know. Ice Make, Diamond Cage!" His hands moved together to seal several of their enemies in a glittering prison, knowing that to no avail they would be able to melt it. He would have to stay closer to it so it wouldn't melt, but he was sure he could keep that fact in mind. His hands moved to punch another thief straight in the jaw, watching with satisfaction as he flew back several meters and landed with a thud on one of the trees. He turned to see what his other teammates were doing, and was glad to see that they were relatively unharmed as they fought back, not even doubting their team leader's decision of helping the other team. They were growing stronger, that was for sure.

"Lyon-san, duck!" The warning barely came in time, and Lyon trusted his instincts and fell to the ground as a blast of Ice Magic barely missed him. He looked to where the source of the magic was and saw a sheepish Eve giving him an apologetic look before reverting his attention to his enemies. The blonde would be fine: Lyon knew personally that he could handle himself, and he was more worried about himself. He turned, and a flicker of blue caught his attention before he braced himself for the impending inevitable attack, and his world turned black.

.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ava asked for the hundredth time as Jura bent over the limp body of his fallen friend, draping a wet cloth over him as the whole group of mages filed in the inn room, leaning against the walls. The blue haired mage was looking pale: frighteningly pale, and Ava couldn't help but feel bad that she was the one who had brought their group into their mission and even though they technically completed the mission couldn't just _leave_ him like that. Her teammates, luckily, had gotten the message and both teams would be staying in the inn for the night.

"He'll be alright. Lyon's strong." Jura's deep rumbly voice strangely comforted her, and she leaned down towards Lyon's sleeping face, inspecting him. He was taking deep breaths, each one hurried and desperate, and when she put her hand to his face it was strangely warm. It worried her. If she somehow indirectly caused Gray's friend-no, Lyon's death she'd never forgive herself. "Just some side effects from the poison. Your Immunity Spell cancelled out most of it."

"Yeah…" she said, her eyes flashing as she remained silent. Of course her magic wouldn't be enough to protect when she needed it to. She almost bit her tongue in disgust. She was still weak. Even after she had vowed to become strong, when the news of Tenroujima hit Fairy Tail and Laki had collapsed into a heap of sobs and Bisca nearly dropped her gun as she cried alongside her comrades. The mood of the room was sombre, and time ticked by almost too slowly as the group watched Lyon. The hands of the clock continued moving, and gradually, one by one, everyone began exiting the room as night fell upon them. The hour hand was pointing between 10 and 11 when Lyon's eyes fluttered open. "...Ava?" He murmured.

"I'm right here." Ava shifted closer to him, eyes still locked on his tired face. "Do you need something? Water? A new towel?"

"...weak…" His voice caught her by surprise, and she uttered her question with her eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"...still weak...Gray would'a beat them w'thout getting knocked out…" Lyon mumbled, shielding his eyes with his hand as he sunk further into the mattress, covering his body with the beige sheets as he shivered. " 'ts cold."

"I know." Her face was strangely calm as her shoulders slumped at the mention of the other Ice-Make mage, his calm gaze flashing through her mind. "I know." She repeated, the words sounding foreign on her lips. "Sorry Lyon."

"Not your fault…" He managed before his eyelids dropped close, and Ava noticed that although his body was still alarmingly warm, it seemed like he was more relaxed than before.

A smile tugged at her lips, memories of their first meeting flashing through her mind as she brushed her hand against his face.

"Thanks, Lyon."

* * *

"_Lyon." She nodded her head at him coolly, her eyes downcast as she found herself once again swinging her legs near the water as she sat on the pier. The situation was eerily similar to when she was with Gray, to the point that she couldn't look at the light-blue haired man in the eye. The waves lapped the edge of the sand, seeming to catch onto it before residing again back into the depths of the ocean._

"_You are...Ava. Correct?" He asked awkwardly. At this Ava nearly smiled, but the wave of emotions from before stopped her from doing so. Boys, no matter their age, really didn't know how to comfort girls. The memory of salmon-pink hair nearly blinded her._

"_Yeah." She watched the water, a dark midnight black reflecting the dark sky, completely dark as clouds obscured her view of the stars._

"_Gray told me. About you." He added quickly, sitting down on the dock with her, and she shivered at the sudden burst of cold that he brought as they sat shoulder to shoulder. "I met you once when Lamia Scale helped defeat Oracion Seis, but I didn't really get to talk to you. He...he said you were nice. And...a comrade. Close comrade."_

"_Yeah." Ava decided to spare the poor man and elaborated, "We sometimes teamed up for some missions. I didn't go to the S-Class exam so…"_

"_You have other teammates though?" The question lingered in the air for a moment, and Lyon wished that he could take back his words._

"_Not really. I guess Laki, but she prefers to do different kinds of missions than the ones that fit my specialties." She stared at the water blankly for a moment. Lyon was...Gray's friend. That meant she could trust him...right? Gray had told her about him: the slightly cockier (she had snorted at that, telling him no one could be cockier than him), older pupil of Ur that had a change of heart after a gone-haywire mission where the two had met after so many years apart. She could trust him. Ava set her chin. She turned, her amber eyes meeting his dark black, and Lyon couldn't help but notice the hesitation in her eyes and wondered what his fellow pupil-of-Ur would do. "Do you think they'd be mad if I quit?"_

"_Quit...the guild?"_

_She nodded._

_Lyon was silent for a moment, in deep thought and Ava was starting to regret asking him the question before he suddenly spoke, "I think...that they might be angry for a while, but they'll understand and try to be happy for you." Thoughts of the comradery Fairy Tail was known to possess flashed through his mind as he talked._

"_That does sound like them." Ava chuckled bitterly, lifting her legs and bringing her face to her knees, her voice slightly muffled. Her black locks covered what was remaining of her face so he couldn't see her expression at all. "You're very honest, aren't you?" She hesitated for a moment before testing his name on her lips. "Thanks, Lyon."_

"_No problem." Feeling as if he shouldn't just let the conversation end there, the blue-head rubbed the back of his head as he asked, "What are you going to do then?"_

_She shrugged. "Travel the world. Find a purpose to life. Grow stronger."_

"_Leaving won't let you forget." Lyon had no idea what possessed him to say that, but she stiffened as her shoulders slumped and he knew he hit the target._

"_Was I really that obvious?"_

"_No, I'm just observant." _

_The statement reminded her so much of the other Ice-Make mage that Ava bit back an instinctive retort of "You're such an idiot, Gray" and sunk deeper into her misery._


	4. Chapter 4

"_Festival! The Harvest Festival's coming up!"_

"_Shut up already, Flame Brain, we can hear you from across the entire guild." Gray scowled, crossing his arms as he leaned his back against the wall half-naked again, his rival tensing up from the snarky comment. Ava had long since given up to try to remind the boy of his stripping habits. "I think everyone already realizes that." It was true: the whole guild was in a frenzy as they prepared for some of the events like the Miss Fairy Tail contest and the Fantasia Parade, and the Harvest Festival was probably on everyone's minds._

_Ignoring his rival's snarky comment, the fiery pink-haired boy turned to his younger teammate, the fifteen year old girl blinking confusedly as he talked rapidly to her. "Oi, Ava, what are you most excited for? I can't wait till the Parade! The lights are always cool, and the guild always does something fancy for the finale, and they sell all kinds of cool treats before then!"_

"_The Fantasia Parade? Well...it's nice, but I think I like the fireworks best." The black haired girl hummed thoughtfully as she gave Natsu's pouting face a cursory glance before turning away almost haughtily. "Besides, we have it every year. Why are you so excited about it?" Unconsciously, her amber eyes moved to look at Gray before reverting to Natsu._

"_Is there any reason _not _to be excited for it? It's because it's awesome!"_

"_There's always next year…" She pointed out dully._

"_But you'd still be missing out on a year!"_

"_Gray, help me." She sent a pleading look towards the Ice Make Mage, to which he sighed, shoulders slumping as he stood up straight and away from the wall. "Flame Brain, stop spreading your idioticness to your teammates, especially your younger ones. Ava's already reckless. We don't need another idiot on the team."_

"_Hey!" Both addressed mages immediately protested._

"_All of you are being stubborn idiots," Erza corrected sternly as she sighed. "Now, what am I ever going to do with the three of you?"_

"_You just need someone sane on the team. Someone to bring reason." Ava hummed, her eyes somewhere far away. "But don't worry about that right now. I'm sure when the time comes, we'll have a teammate who will fulfill that spot."_

"_Ava, let's go on a mission without those two!" Natsu huffed, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the bar's stool as her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she gave him a surprised look, the Dragon Slayer refusing to meet her gaze as he dragged her to the mission board, unhearing of her protests as he selected a random mission and stomped back to the bar, slamming the paper in front of Mira and growling, "We'll take this."_

"_Just hurry back before the festival." Mirajane watched her guild mate curiously, her eyes flickering between the girl he was dragging around and himself before she suddenly began to sparkle, a very bad sign that usually meant she would create a new matchmaking scheme. "How about you two take this mission inste-"_

"_No," Gray and Ava deadpanned at the same time, Natsu instead looking at the request curiously before scowling. "That looks too boring!"_

_It was a request for two people to act as a couple and scout down a guy who's wife thought he was cheating on her and meeting with an affair at some expensive nightclub. Ava visibly twitched at the thought of posing as Natsu's girlfriend (the boy always was more like her brother-or maybe that was Gray), instead looking at the mission the pink-haired boy picked out._

_It was a fairly simple, straight to the point mission. They would act as bodyguards for some wealthy noble's daughter while she journeyed to meet her fiance halfway across Fiore. Apparently the noble was pretty high up and made a lot of enemies, so he wanted his daughter to be safe during her journey._

"_Natsu, you do realize that most likely they'll travel by carriage or train...right?" Ava asked cautiously, her eyebrows raised as she thought of the Fire-User's disposition on moving vehicles. "Are you sure you won't get motion sickness?" She shouldn't have said that, she realized as the boy's eyes lit up at the challenge._

"_I won't!"_

"_Will."_

"_Won't!"_

"_Will."_

"_Won't!" Looking at her emotionless face, he huffed and crossed his arms around his chest as he shook his head. "You're just scared, aren't you?" He brightened at the notion, leaning close to Ava while giving her a knowing grin, elbowing her in the ribs. "Don't worry, Ava, I can protect you."_

"_Shut up." She swiped her leg at him, but he moved to the left and dodged easily, yet another reminder that she was the youngest _and _probably weakest on the team. She scowled. Natsu had already insulted her pride once, and if he dared do it again she'd-_

"_Ava's our princess, and we're her knights in shining armor~" Natsu sang, eyes bright as he knew it would rile the girl up for a fight. "We'll always come and save the day!" She'd probably blink for a moment confusedly before turning all red and challenging him to a duel, and that fiery look in her eyes that only happened when he challenged her would be present. But instead of the expected reaction, Ava's eyes turned cold as her hands trembled before she slapped him across the face._

…

…

…

_Both figures stood there for a long moment that seemed to last for eternity before they simultaneously turned away, Ava stomping out of the guild, completely furious, while Natsu slammed his fist against the bar's counter, eyes narrowed and face pulled downwards, barely registering his team's various comments of disapproval._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_"Stupid Natsu..." The black-haired girl sighed, her anger slowly disappearing and being replaced with something that felt akin to guilt as she recalled her teammate's shocked face as he cradled his wounded cheek, eyes betraying him as he stared at her. It was true that he hadn't meant anything when he had jested, but the words he spoke had hit a sensitive spot._

_Ava wasn't useful. She was usually the person who was assigned to watch for enemies or protect the client whenever they were on missions together as a team. Natsu would run and face the enemies head on, Erza would re-equip and scare the shit out of everyone, Gray would sigh but direct them before creating a new weapon out of ice. Even Happy could be more helpful than her sometimes. After all, what good was a mage who could do nothing but use borrowed magic?_

_A lot, Gray had told her when she had confided in him about her insecurities. He had told her that there would be a day when they would need the magic that she would seal. That they would need her help. And even if not, she was still helping them (at that she snorted incredulously) just by being part of their team._

_After the...events that had happened in her past, her only resolve she had was to grow stronger. True, she had managed to join Fairy Tail, the number one guild in Fiore. But what did that really amount up to?_

_She swallowed dryly, rubbing the back of her head as she walked lost in thought. She'd apologize to Natsu when she would return to the guild. But her feet kept her moving in a different direction, towards the riverbank, and somehow she knew that her teammate would be there. That was, after all, the place they had met._

_And indeed he was. Amongst the tall green grasses, swaying in the autumn breeze, trickling sounds of the river, and slight sounds of civilization around them, was Natsu. The scantily-dressed boy was sitting cross-legged, his head propped forward with his hands as he leaned towards the river, seemingly lost in thought._

"_And here I thought you would be beating up by Erza by now." The statement slipped out of her lips, and she saw the pinkette's obsidian eyes brighten just a bit by the peace-treaty, but he refused to turn around and look at her. Sighing, she slung her polyester bag over her shoulder and set it down in the grass, plopping on to the ground and sitting cross-legged just like her companion. "I'm sorry about before." Seeing as her elder was not replying, she quickly added, a little guilt trickling into her voice, "I was just a little pissed off. You know how I get about gaining power."_

"_You're perfectly fine the way you are." That statement made Ava look up, and she couldn't help the smile that was threatening to come up to her lips as she whispered a silent thank you._

"_I've learned that in this world, to survive, to _protect_...you need to have power. Power, as in status. Power, as in courage. Power, as in the power to change the world." Her eyes turned distant for just a moment as she relived memories of the past. She was not naive enough to think that she was fully correct. Oh, no...she had learned her lesson too well that she was _not _the wisest person in the world, nor the most experienced. But power...oh, the power she had yearned for was not something so easily attained._

"_Well, then…" Natsu turned to face her, his grin extending from one side of his face to the other as determination shone through his eyes and seemed to course through his very being as he gave her a non-too-subtle thumbs up. "We'll just have to gain that power together!"_

_A smile touched her lips. "Yeah. Thanks, Natsu."_

_Suddenly feeling the tense atmosphere, the pink-haired mage cleared his throat and adjusted his white scarf, standing up and pumping his fist. "Now, how about that mission? I bet ya' we can finish it in 3 days."_

_She let out a soft exhale before standing up herself, letting her eyes rest on the river as she spoke. "2 days."_

"_What?"_

_A smirk touched her lips as she turned around to look at _him_, giving him a competitive look as she held up the number two with her left hand, her other hand positioned on her hip as she spoke boldly, "We can totally finish it in 2 days."_

"_You're on!"_

_(Looking back, the mission _was _an escort mission, and they had finally arrived at their destination after a week of complaining-courtesy of Natsu-and exasperation from Ava. They had barely managed to make it to the Festival on time.)_

* * *

"Our newest mission." Hibiki's hand set down a slightly yellowed and tattered paper before the group, his eyes calculating as he stared at the request. "I believe it will suit our talents quite well." Curious, the other groups members looked over the paper, Ava leaning slightly over the table to read it as Ren leaned on his tanned hand as his eyes moved while he read it. Eve was the one to take action, however, and asked, "What is it?"

"Ava will be posing as a daughter of a wealthy noble and Eve as her fiance." Seeing his group's indignant faces he held up a hand and shook his head. "I will get to that. Basically a casino's cheated our client and several others more than 500 million Jewels each, and they want us to go there undercover to reveal their treachery. This casino only accepts the richest of the richest however, which is why we'll need to act with great finesse. I'm afraid that people might recognize Ren and I, but Ava's a fairly new member and Eve's probably the least recognizable of our group. Ren, Ichiya, and I will also be undercover and tracking you two. Understood?"

"I don't like this," Ava said warily, pressing her finger against her temple as she rubbed her forehead and sighed. "But I suppose we can do it."

"Are you any good at gambling, Ava? Eve?"

"_Dammit! She won again! Avaaaaa, this is so unfair~"_

She smiled crookedly. "I suppose I'm sufficient."

"Good. Our client's providing us with 200 million Jewels each to test out each of the games there. We'll head over there by train, tomorrow night. In the meanwhile, both of you go out and buy the fanciest clothes you want." Hibiki nodded. "I'll confirm with the client."

"Alright." Eve stood up, turning around, his cerulean eyes lighted up with excitement as he looked at Ava. "Come on, _nee-chan_, let's go!"

"Fine, fine." Ava also stood up, her bracelets clinking slightly as they hit each other from the sudden movement as her expression suddenly brightened before turning a 180 as a devilish grin crossed over her face as she smirked at her teammates. "Ready to go shopping?"

**O_O**

After 6 hours of shopping, a lot of complaining from the boys (to which Ava replied they shouldn't have given her full use of their money), and a handful of arguments later, their small (but close knit, she had to admit) team was sitting exhausted on one of the park benches, each person holding at least 3 bags of clothes.

"Ava-chan, did you have to buy so...much?" Hibiki groaned. Ichiya had escaped earlier, giving some excuse of smelling the perfume of someone like him near (and Ava hoped very much that there _wasn't_ anyone else in Earthland that was like Ichiya: one of them was enough), and therefore they had to carry even more bags. He massaged his sore shoulders as he set down the bags near his feet, leaning back on the wooden bench as he turned to the only female member of their group.

"What did I tell you? Never bring a female out shopping." Her mouth twitched. _Especially Erza._ The thought disturbed her for a moment because she thought she had forgotten about them already, and she quickly pushed it away. But Ava knew... She knew that she was just running away from her past. That in a way, she was just using this team to fulfill her own desires: of forgetting the past, drowning it out with new memories. All the Fairy Tail members had their own way of coping, whether it be quit the guild or develop some new habit like drinking, and hers happened to be quite literally moving away. But...her gaze turned to her teammates, and it softened a little. She liked to believe that she was with her team because she loved them as well. She sighed and rolled her head, leaning on Ren's shoulder, the black-haired boy's body nearly jumping at the sudden contact. "I'm tired." She murmured. From what, she didn't really know.

"Oi, we were the ones holding most of the bags." Ren scowled, poking her forehead with his finger accusingly, her eyes narrowing at the motion as she tilted her head to the right angle so she could look at him straight in the eye.

"There is a thing called chivalry, my dear Ren." She tsked. "Now, how will you ever get a girlfriend if you can't even carry her shopping bags?"

"Don't want one." He looked almost thoughtful for a moment before his face contorted into a scowl again as he flipped his hair in a gesture towards his petite blonde teammate. "How come Eve doesn't have to carry as much as us?"

"Because I'm cute, right _nee-chan_?" He peered over at her with hopeful eyes.

"That's right." She ruffled his hair fondly, the action not at all unfamiliar. Even though Eve was technically the same age as her and _could_ display maturity when he wanted to, she felt like she had gained a little brother she'd never thought she wanted until then. "Ren, don't be so mean to your teammates. You know, if you keep on scowling like that, that expression will be stuck on your face. That's what my mother always used to tell me at least."

"You're the one who's been bossing us around!"

"Now, now, children…" Hibiki tried to placate his friend, but Ren whirled around at him, his eyes narrowed and fists clenched as Hibiki almost flinched.

"I'm not a child!"

"Are you sure about that?" Ava threw out carelessly, her black hair slightly covering the left side of her face as she leered at him, the petty side of her coming out as it used to. "Because all I see right now is a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum." She blinked for a moment, surprised at the sudden but familiar action. It had been a long time since she had last done something like this. To her left, Eve nodded as he shot an almost victorious smirk at Ren before his face reverted back to his childish cuteness as Ava turned around inquisitively to see at what Ren was glaring at. This only served to further provoke the tanned-boy, and he glared at Eve even more, mouthing words that surely meant the blonde's death behind his female teammate's back..

Hibiki sighed and plugged his nose. "This team still needs a lot of work…"

* * *

The next day, Ava and Eve were standing next to each other, shoulders barely touching, as their hands gripped onto their suitcases filled with expensive clothing, perfume, and money. Both were completely beautified: Hibiki had taken charge of putting make-up on them while Ren chose for them the most extravagant outfits possible. It was thus that Ava found herself scowling at the tight maroon dress that was clinging to her waist quite tightly as she tried to move her legs without much avail. Eve was having less of a problem in his white suit and white dress pants, his golden hair slicked back with gel into an unrecognizable hairdo for the boy as he adjusted his fake glasses. They had taken precautions to make sure that the team would not be recognized during their mission, which was why Ava was rubbing at her fake chocolate-brown contacts irritatedly.

"These are so impractical…" She adjusted the black satin sash around her waist so it wouldn't trail behind her while she walked. "It fits the cover, but still."

"Alright you two, remember that Ava is Miss Evangeline Lithers and her fiance is Evan Winters. You two are attending this town for a honeymoon and heard that the casino there is the best one in Fiore. You have not heard the rumors of them cheating their clients, and will happily oblige to play numerous games many times. You will get close to the casino's owner and catch him. Got it?" Hibiki gave them an inquisitive glance as he moved his brown wig to the right a little more. "Ren and I are your bodyguards. Ichiya-san is here for an interview, which is why he is in town right now. The famous Trimens are all back at Blue Pegasus's guild."

"Understood."

The two walked inside the casino, and Ava was pleasantly surprised to see that it had defied her expectations. What she was expecting was something akin to a cheap casino that was so obviously cheating its customers, although she should have knew that considering its wide reputation it would have been better. Crystal chandeliers hung from the walls as several tapestries of gold and silver linings hung on the walls. The floor they were standing on must have been made of something that seemed like pure glass, and below them Ava could make out several glowing lacrimas and more gambling machines beneath them. A few lacrimas of all colors floated by her, and her eyes were dazzled by multiple lights as various well-dressed people sat either in card games of with the machines. There were waterfalls to her left, where several comfortable and expensive-looking satin chairs were stationed. Various floral designs that were as tall as her or even taller decorated the (already) decorative casino.

"Wow…" Eve couldn't help but murmur, and Ava nodded her head in silence, a little too stunned to think. Being a member of one of or maybe the handsomest group of mages, the Trimens, they both had obviously lived in luxury before. Even so…

"Ah, _mademoiselle_, _monsieur_, _comment allez-vous? _How do you do?" A sudden voice startled them out of their thoughts as they turned to see a rather short man dressed in a black tuxedo giving them a cordial look. "I am the owner of this casino, Jean-Claude Niel. How may I help you two today?"

_Stay calm. Think. Would what Mia do?_ Ava let out a small exhale as she tilted her head and _tittered_, the motion slightly startling Eve as she assumed a professional, but nonetheless haughty voice that most of her richer clients always spoke in. "Ah, a pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Evangeline Lithers and this is Evan Winters, my newly-made husband. We've come to town for our honeymoon, you see, and we heard through the grapevine this casino is quite a nice place to attend." She waved a nonchalant hand towards Hibiki and Ren, who were now also disguised and standing a few feet behind them. "Our bodyguards, for precautions. Don't mind them."

"Indeed, indeed, _madmemoiselle_, I am sure you will find the casino to your liking." The man's eyes darted almost...nervously as he refused to meet Ava's eyes, looking back at the pair of 'bodyguards' every once in a while. "Well, if you excuse me, I must...ah, g-go greet the other guests. Have a fun time, _Mademoiselle_ Lithers and _Monsieur _Winters."

"Thank you!" Ava called after him as he scurried away, a smirk playing at her lips as she turned to Eve brightly. "Oh, _Evan_, shall we go and try out their games?"

"Of course, _n-_darling." She had to say that Eve played the part well, even though he had almost slipped up thanks to his usual habits. His back was completely straight as he stood tall (or at least as tall as his petite frame allowed him, thank God Hibiki had taken precautions and picked some of the higher raised shoes-Eve had refused to call them heels), linking arms with Ava and leading her to one of the poker tables as they sat down with grace.

As he watched with amazement as his female teammate after only a few rounds of gameplay laid down her cards and gave the tender a triumphant smile as everyone around them looked at the pair, stupefied, Eve sighed and felt like this would be a long night.

* * *

"...and then when the owner found out that we were actually _winning_, a _lot_, he totally got red in the face and began stomping over to us and started yelling frantically at us. Then Hibiki got all professional and held up a tape of the owner stealing money from some of the people who were at the casino, so all the clients got really angry and they almost mobbed the owner had it not been for Hibiki's calming words. We got things sorted out and they called the Rune Knights, but not before Eve accidentally let his wig slide and everyone realized that we were the Trimens. We had to use Ren's magic to get us out of there." Ava laughed happily, chatting with one of the more beautiful girls in the guild: DeZille Horae. The girl had won sixth in the Sorcerer's Magazine _The Wizard I'd Like to Be My Girlfriend_, and had originally joined because she had a crush on Eve. DeZille was a sweet, nice girl, leaning more on the naive side or just plain oblivious side, but nonetheless Ava found her adorable and had quickly become friends with her after a small misunderstanding about Ava being Eve's girlfriend being cleared up. She had quite a wild imagination.

"That's pretty interesting!" DeZille's curious baby blue orbs widened as she leaned closer to her friend. "Tell me more! Tell me more!"

"Well, that's basically it. We stayed in town a few more days just for sightseeing and stuff-it actually was a really nice place, with all the unique shops and just the atmosphere of it all. Then we returned home." Ava rubbed her head sheepishly, twirling a strand of her black hair between her fingers as she sighed. "I'm so tired…"

"But you're also so _lucky!_ Do you know how many girls wanted to be with the Trimens and failed? If I were in your place, I would totally treasure it! I mean, think about it, being on a mission with a bunch of hot guys (minus Ichiya)..." DeZille clasped her face into her hands as a deep red blush began to spread across her cheeks as she rapidly shook her head. "Ah, that would be so amazing to spend time with Eve-kun…"

"You should just confess to him, then. You're pretty and popular enough."

DeZille gasped. "I can't just _do_ that! I mean, it's just so embarrassing and sudden!"

"So?"

"You've obviously never fell in love before then. Who exactly did you hang out with before you met the Trimens?"

"Team Natsu." Ava shrugged nonchalantly, trying to mask the wave of emotions that surged up from even saying that name as DeZille's eyes nearly bulged before she murmured a quick apology. "No, it's alright. I should be getting over the past anyways. Besides, I saw all of the guys on the team as my brothers."

"_Just_ brothers?"

"Yeah." Ava stared as her friend walked off with a huff, muttering something like 'so not fun' as she went to talk to Eve as Ava adopted a contemplating look. "...at least I _think_ I saw them as brothers."

* * *

**A/N**: **Yo. I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that's reviewed, favorited, followed, or even read this story. Your encouragement gives me inspiration.**

On a totally different subject, I just want to say that...

a) I used Google Translate for any French in here so I'm sorry it came out wrong

b) Riko Applico (1st chapter) and DeZille are actual characters in Blue Pegasus but only mentioned once in the _The Wizard I'd Like to Be My Girlfriend_ polls so I took the time to develop some characters for them.

c) Did you notice each chapter's slightly longer than the next? (1st- around 2000 words, 2nd- around 3000, etc.) Hehe I try...

d) _**IMPORTANT** _Who would you like to see more? Lyon? Natsu? Gray? Hibiki? Ren? Eve? What interactions do you enjoy the most?

**Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

"_Oi, Ava! Want to duel with me?" A certain pinkette's shout managed to make its way through the loud conversations of Fairy Tail to her ears, and she turned around in the small wooden chair, cup of tea in hand as she gave a him a noncommittal shrug, a confident smirk beginning to show itself on her face._

"_Sure, just name the time and place." As soon as those words left her mouth she felt a resounding _thwack _on the back of her head and she nearly fell over, rubbing her sore head as she turned around and began to protest, pulling herself up with her other spare hand. "Erza, it's just one duel!"_

"_And we both know that whenever Natsu's involved, it's not just a duel." Erza chided, giving a glare at Natsu that left him shriveling backwards before pausing to take a bite of her strawberry shortcake._

"_Besides, it wouldn't be fair." Gray's voice rang out to Ava's left, and she turned to see her friend smirking as he taunted his rival. "Flame Brain would lose in a matter of seconds to Ava. Or just accidentally knock himself out."_

_(Ava could faintly hear Cana wolf-whistle and call out something that sounded like 'love birds', and she shot a glare at the Cards-Mage. She usually got along with the drunkard, after all, she was quite sensible when she wanted to be, but Cana had never gotten over the misconception that she and Gray were an item even though they had repeatedly said that she was four years younger than him and that they weren't like that.)_

"_Would not, Ice Princess! I'd totally kick her _and _your asses!" Natsu held up his fists defiantly, face a dark scarlet as he stood up to his full height. "Wanna go?"_

"Natsu…" _Erza's dangerously low voice interrupted him from going any further as he paled and quickly slung an arm over Gray's shoulder, the other boy doing the same as well, laughing nervously as two completely fake smiles came over their faces as they leaned their heads on each others' shoulders._

"_I didn't mean that Erza! Gray and I are best buddies, right Gray?"_

"_Yeah!" The statement came out more like a squeak, and Ava mildly wondered how the redhead could hold so much power over the two and made a mental note to ask her later for her secrets. Spotting a bright blue ribbon bouncing up and down in the crowd and heading towards them, she brightened and waved, thankful that _someone _sane was present in their group as she ignored the ongoing situation. "Lucy, over here!"_

_The busty blonde grinned, a gentle smile coming across her face as she walked over to them, standing next to Natsu. Her eyes darting between Gray, Natsu, Erza, and Ava, Lucy sighed and shook her head in mock exasperation. "Please don't tell me the boys were going to do something stupid again." As Gray casted her a wounded glance, she added as an afterthought, "Well, _Natsu _was going to do something stupid most likely." A smile touched Ava's lips. The blonde was always their voice of reason, and Ava often came to Lucy for advice whenever she felt down, although Gray still remained her main confident._

"_He was going to challenge Gray and I to a duel. And was hoping to win." Ava answered, an eyebrow raised in faint wonder at how the scantily-dressed boy could think he could do such a thing as the pink-haired boy gave her his famous puppy-eye look which she plainly ignored. It was a wonder that he was older than her, she thought as she watched with unsympathetic eyes as Erza whacked Natsu on the head again._

"_Natsu…" Lucy growled as Natsu withheld a gulp, laughing nervously as he rubbed the back of his head, tanned muscular arms seemingly shivering with fright as the blonde bared down before him, her hands inching towards her pouch of keys. Natsu's obsidian eyes darted down at where her hand was creeping towards and he held up his hands in defense, head looking back and forth for an escape route from Erza and Lucy when he suddenly darted behind Ava._

"_Don't bring _me _into this!" She whispered furiously as Ava tried to push the pink-haired boy away from his hiding spot, _her _voice sounding slightly nervous as she looked at Erza and Lucy, both furious females turning to look in her direction as she gave a resounding kick to her other teammate, hissing, "Gray, help me out here!"_

_The said bluenette suddenly looked up and gave her a very sorry and fake smile as she sunk down in her seat and muttered a quiet 'traitor...' as he inched away from the scene, looking over at Mirajane and giving another fake smile as he said, "Oh, look, there's Mira. I'm going to go ask her if there are any jobs available. Bye!" He quickly slipped away, the last two sentences more like a hurried blur as he fast-walked (ran) to the white-haired woman._

"_Ava…" Erza said with a strained tone as she twitched, her teammate doing the same as she gulped and looked up at her. "...move away now unless you want to be pulverized."_

"_I'm _trying_!" The black-haired girl protested as her amber eyes darted towards Natsu as she stood up and moved to her left, the pinkette copying her actions as he still hid behind her. "But he keeps on following me!"_

"_Well I suppose that's too bad." Erza's body began glowing dangerously as Ava turned around furiously at Natsu, the pinkette shrinking away from her glare._

"_Now look what you got me into!"_

"_Not my fault!"_

"_You started it!"_

"_You agreed to it!"_

"_Stop blaming it on me!"_

"_Why _shouldn't _I blame it on you?"_

"_Oh, that's it!" Ava lunged forward at the same time as her partner before they were both promptly sent flying courtesy of a certain red head, an amused Lucy standing behind her as she crossed her arms and sighed. They happened to blast through the wall, making a decent sized hole as Makarov nearly cried tears of sadness while Mira resignedly patted him on the head reassuringly, Gray rolling his eyes and muttering something that sounded akin to 'idiots'. The whole guild turned to see the commotion and when recognizing the rowdy group, turned back to their conversations as if nothing ever happened._

_When one visitor, eyes bulging and staring at the scene, asked Cana what was going on, the brunette had simply shrugged and gave him a knowing smile, a flash of pride shining in her eyes. "Just another day in Fairy Tail," she said as her answer._

* * *

"...and..._down_!" Ava hopped off the last monster's body, looking fairly triumphant as she turned her head to check on how her other teammates were doing. Hibiki was teaming up with Ichiya to defeat a mob of monsters near her right. To her left, Eve was freezing monsters while Ren was blowing them away, both looking focused and serious (for once) as they battled.

"Not bad, sweetheart!" She heard Ren call over his shoulder as he moved out of the way of one of the monster jabs fairly easily, rolling his shoulders to stretch the muscles before swiping his hand towards the monsters, murmuring, "_Aerial Shot._" The sudden blast of wind caught them off guard, and the onslaught of rocks that hit the monsters made them go flying made them land in a heap of bodies as Ava gave him a small smirk.

"Bet you I can defeat more of them then you," she challenged.

"You're on!" He called to her, leaping into the wave of monsters and creating spells right and left. A group of monsters were edging closer to her right, and Ava quickly spun around and opened the scroll in her hand, eyes flashing as she chanted, "_Seal of Flames, activate!"_

The scroll opened with a red glow, and a burst of flames seared the edges of the monsters' skins, and they growled as they watched her warily, both parties tensed as they waited for the next move. They were moving slowly in a circle, and Ava's feet moved at the same time as theirs. Finally, the monsters got tired and they lunged, claws sharp and glistening in the sunlight, just as she shouted, "_Magic Full-Body Seal, activate!"_

The ground below them shook and began glowing, and Ava was able to throw a small victorious smile at Ren before the monsters sunk into the ground when suddenly that victory became alarm. Ava began cursing as she felt their magic rush into the seal, and she barely withheld a scream as pain shot into her body like a bullet. Her knees buckled slightly. Her head was spinning, and there was a faint buzz in her ears as she heard Eve's concerned, "_nee-chan!"_ before she shook off the feeling, completing the sealing as she reached into her bag and opened a scroll, watching transfixed as the magic transferred into the open seal.

"Done," she muttered, closing the scroll and standing up again. Her ears were still slightly ringing. Looking over their makeshift battlefield, a flattened plain that used to be part of a rainforest, she realized that the battle was finished and everyone was starting to regroup.

"Good job, everyone." Ichiya nodded at Hibiki, then Ren, then Eve, and finally herself. Ava couldn't help the warm feeling she felt as she smiled.

"Thank you, Ichiya-san."

"We're heading back to the guild, _men_~!"

"_Hai!"_

As they walked back to the Christina, Eve and Ava started an idle discussion, the latter avoiding the former's worried eyes asked he asked about the technique she just used. "I've never seen _that_ move yet," Eve prompted as the attention of Ren and Hibiki turned to their conversation as well.

"A new one I've been testing out." Ava shrugged nonchalantly. "I honestly didn't expect it to work. Instead of drawing a seal with my hands, I tried doing it with my feet. The seal was supposed to suck all of their magical energy or whatever I could handle, but it was kind of risky because seals created during battle are more unstable. That's why it kind of backfired on me a bit." To reassure them, she added lightly, "Don't worry, it's not much. I probably just have to reinforce the seal later and be a little more careful when using my magic for a few days."

Hibiki nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, his eyes flashing that way they only did when he was in deep thought. "That's pretty interesting. If you were to perfect that technique…"

"It would be a totally badass move," Ren finished, raising his eyebrows suggestively as he gave her a nod of approval, his tan hand clapping on her shoulder. "Sweetheart, you have one hell of an attack you got there."

"Well, not how I was going to put it...but sure." Hibiki's eyebrows knitted together as he gave her a thoughtful look.

"The most powerful women _are_ after all the most beautiful." Ren purred, and Ava rolled her eyes, having become immune to their flirting after so long, and Ren's shoulders slumped at the lack of response, but sort of expected it after so many attempts of trying to flirt with his teammate going wrong. Most of the Trimens had eventually realized that flirting would do no good with the girl, although that realization didn't keep them from throwing out compliments every now and then.

"I think it's really cool, _nee-chan!_" Eve jumped in eagerly, bobbing his head up and down, his golden hair catching the sunlight quite nicely and Ava couldn't help but soften as his innocent blue eyes met her gold.

"Thanks." Changing the subject, she shifted her weight to her other foot as she blinked thoughtfully, her golden eyes sliding towards her shortest teammate as she couldn't help but suppress a grin. "You know, I think that Eve defeated the most monsters."

"_What?_ Sweetheart, you got it all wrong. _I_ totally defeated the most."

"Eh."

"So mean~"

"..." The two engaged in a silent stare off, with their other teammates to the side trying to hold back their laughter at how ridiculous they looked like. Ren was pouting, looking like a small child who was denied his candy, while Ava held her deadpan expression with expertise that could only come with practice. Eve was cheering, pumping his fist in the air as he shouted, "_Nee-chan_ likes me the most!". Hibiki just sighed, shaking his head exasperatedly as the corners of his mouth twitched and threatened to reveal the smile he knew was coming.

"Let's make haste, _men~_"

"_Hai…_"

As they walked sullenly with no further distractions, Ava couldn't help but smile and sigh contentedly as her shoulders relaxed.

They were heading home.

* * *

"A cheers for another job well done." Hibiki raised his glass of wine, the liquid translucent when held against the light, and grinned at his companion. "You look stunning."

"Why, thank you. You do as well," Ava said, drumming her fingers against the counter of the bar, making a rhythmic _tap tap_ as she looked down self consciously at her choice of dress. It was a simple maroon colored dress, the shade close to the drink Hibiki held in his hands, and she had worn it with her usual silver bracelets. Her companion himself was looking amazing, with his dark-gold hair swept to the side complimenting his blue shirt and slick black pants. "We must look like a stunning pair." She felt her mouth twitch, threatening to turn into the smile she knew was sure to come. She could feel the envious gazes of the other female mages of the guild watching her as she scooted a little farther away from Hibiki subtly. At least she wasn't with Eve: DeZille would absolutely kill her.

"Indeed." He closed in the distance so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder, still smiling as Ava gave a nervous laugh. The barmaid set down a white cup, steam emanating from the golden-brown liquid.

"You know," Hibiki said thoughtfully as he tapped his finger on his chin, one of the many things Ava had grown accustomed to after working with the group for a year. "I think Master Bob will elect you to be one of the members of our team for the Grand Magic Games next year."

"Really? You think so?" Ava looked up, curious, as she held a cup of Chai tea in one hand and a packet of sugar in the other. They were sitting at the guild's bar, and after ordering their respective drinks from the rather busty waitress (who flirted back with Hibiki, much to Ava's amusement and somewhat consternation), were now at the counter and chatting amicably.

"Of course! You haven't noticed, Ava-chan?" Hibiki gestured extravagantly. "You've been working with our team for almost a year, so you know how we work. You've won over most of the guild members. _And_ not to mention you can stay focused in battle and are pretty helpful and resourceful too."

"Well...I guess," Ava said somewhat doubtfully, the gears in her mind clicking. "Then the team's probably you, me, Ichiya-san, Eve, and Ren, right?"

"Smart girl," Hibiki smiled approvingly, letting his arm casually drape over her shoulders. She stiffened, just a bit, but quickly relaxed and shot him a teasing smile, playing along with his game as she had done so many times before.

"That's why you all love me."

Hibiki paused before saying, "I guess so."

Feeling the uncomfortable atmosphere, Ava slipped out of his grasp as she ripped open the packet of sugar and poured the whole bag into her cup of tea, the crystalline grains sparkling as they fell into the hot liquid. Seeing his inquiring look, she shrugged and explained simply, "I like my tea sweet. It was a bad habit that I started a long time ago."

"True, tea _is_ quite delightful... But don't you think wine is more..._romantic_?" He held up the glass, the maroon liquid sloshing back and forth from the motion as he offered it to her. She stared at it, as if transfixed on the object momentarily before her golden eyes met his chestnut, making the former's breath catch for a second before she regained her composure.

"Sure it is." Her hand reached out and pushed the glass of wine back to him as she smiled at his mock-hurt expression, unyielding in defending her favorite drink's honor. "But tea's better. More traditional."

"Never took you as the traditional type."

"Don't judge a book by its cover, I guess." Her lips stretched outwards as she grinned ferally at him, amber eyes glinting as she leaned forward, her voice lower an octave from excitement, the influence Natsu had made on her showing as her eyes glinted. "Do you think we'll have a new mission soon?"

As soon as the words left her lips, a cheerful 'hello!' interrupted their conversation as their heads turned to see Master Bob walking through the doors of Blue Pegasus-and by walking through, it _literally_ meant walking through. The first time Ava had witnessed their guild master's magic was when he popped in her apartment to make sure she was settling in well. She had been changing into her nightclothes at the time, and when she saw her rather ridiculously dressed master _in her apartment_, she had let out a scream before nearly wrecking her apartment as she threw objects at him. Now things were over; after a nice long talk about how _yes_ she understood it was an accident and _yes_ Master Bob would never do that again, she and the flamboyant man had gotten along somewhat. After being a member of Fairy Tail, there was no strange incident she couldn't recover from (at least, that's what she told herself).

"Hello, Master Bob." Ava assumed her professional tone as she swiveled around the metal chair, face neutral as she asked, "What can we do for you?"

The crossdressing man smiled nervously as he played with his fingers while hopping over to the two, making sure that his wings didn't knock over anything, even if the action was quite unnecessary with his ability as the more serious side of him shined through. "I just came back from somewhere...I'm not sure if it's true but I think you deserve to know."

Ava's eyes sharpened at the same time as Hibiki's, and she stood up and asked in a cool voice, "What is the matter?"

"M-Magic. Magical readings have been skyrocketing near where Tenroujima Island once was." The man winced, waiting for her to explode. And she almost did, if not for the hand on her shoulder to placate her.

"Ava." Hibiki warned, his tone serious and enhanced by the fact that he didn't use honorifics. He had only used this tone on missions: usually the golden-haired man would adapt more of a shallow tone when he flirted with girls (which was basically any time they were off duty).

Her chest heaved, upwards and downwards as she took deep breaths to steady her breathing as she fought to hold back her nausea. She would _not_ be weak anymore. She couldn't afford to, after so many had sacrificed themselves to let her make it this far. Her voice was steady as she asked, "Do you mean they're alive?"  
"We don't know," he said as honestly as he could. "But we're heading over to Fairy Tail right now to alert them of this. Ichiya's getting ready the Christina as we speak. I can not go, but you and the Trimens can."

Unconsciously, Ava's feet began to take her where she knew Ichiya and the Christina would be, not even minding the fact that Hibiki wasn't following her and was instead speaking in a hushed tone with Master Bob behind her. All that mattered was for her to go. To find out what happened. To let her finally have a peace of mind. She paused before she exited the guild. "Thank you, Master Bob."

* * *

**A/N: And...the canon action begins. How nice. A lot of Team Natsu, Team Lyon, and Trimens action ahead~**

**Thanks for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following!**


	6. Chapter 6

"_Ah, Erza! Welcome back!" Ava waved at the red-haired mage as the armor-clad woman gave her a warm smile. The black-haired girl stood up and walked over to her elder teammate, all the while smiling. "How have you been? Are the S-Class missions really as hard as they say? Did you meet any new mages? What kinds of magic did they use?"_

"_Slow down." Erza put her hand up to stop the barrage of questions as she couldn't help the proud smile that found itself on her face as she set down a giant horn nearly double the size of Happy on the wooden table, all of the rest of Fairy Tail's members gawking at the souvenir as Ava laughed and said something along the lines of 'impressive'. "The mission was fine. It just takes some preciseness and accuracy to complete S-Class missions. I've been fine. I met one Poison-Mage, I'll tell you about it later." Switching her gaze to the crowd, Erza noticed the absence of two (or three, counting Happy) prominent members of their team missing. She already knew Lucy was probably out shopping for either books or keys: the Celestial Mage was always doing that whenever not working on her novel. "Where are Natsu and Gray?"_

"_They went off on a mission."_

"_Together?" Erza could hardly believe that the naturally inclined to argue boys were actually doing something together._

"_Involuntarily. Master said they needed to work out their problems and teamwork and forced them on a mission together. I think Juvia followed them, though. She's always worried about Gray's health." Ava giggled, the fifteen-year-old leaning back in her wooden chair as she set down the array of cards in her hand and redirected her gaze to Cana. "Royal Flush."_

"_Dang it!" Cana set down her own cards in mock exasperation, sighing. "You win again, Ava… I don't understand why a fifteen year old would know how to gamble, but you do. _And _you're good at it." She sulked silently on her chair._

"_I picked it up from my father. He was a Card-Mage." Ava's eyes turned wistful for a moment before being pulled back to reality by a certain red head._

_Erza banged both of them on the head, the brunette wincing and clutching on to her barrel of alcohol, the black-haired girl rubbing her head and giving the Re-Equip Mage a forlorn look which Erza promptly ignored. "Cana, stop teaching Ava your bad habits. Ava, stop listening to her, gambling isn't something you should be doing in your spare time," she said sternly._

"_Well, you're to talk! All Ava does is pour _bags _of sugar into her tea whenever she drinks it! I swear she's almost as sugar-hyper as you." Cana protested._

"_I only like cake." Erza denied._

"_Suuure." The Cards-Mistress sighed, realizing that she wouldn't win the argument, and went back to sulking as she gulped down a healthy amount of alcohol from the wooden barrel she was holding, the amber liquid easily downed by the well-experienced drinker._

"_Hey, Erza, are you going to teach me that new move you were talking about?" Ava piped up, the young girl looking fairly excited as her amber eyes sparkled. Erza was always her role model: unwavering and strong both physically and mentally, proving that men weren't the only ones who could become powerful. Her Sealing Magic could only amount to so much, and she wanted to be able to defend herself and others if she needed to._

"_Ah, yes. I suppose we can work on it at Fairy Hills or somewhere since Natsu and Gray are gone." The last time the Ice and Fire mages had heard that Erza was going to train their teammate in the art of swordsmanship, they had immediately stolen Ava away for a mission, claiming that they didn't want their teammate to turn into a demon _or _be killed by the red-head's training, citing Natsu's experience of learning how to read as evidence. This time was perfect: no idiots in sight, minus a few of the unnamed members of Fairy Tail cowering beneath the tables or bar as they glanced nervously at Erza. They had probably been victims of one of her rampages when her strawberry shortcake was destroyed, and Erza made a mental note to apologize later. No need to make unnecessary friction between guild mates._

"_Okay, let's go!" Ava cheered, pumping her fist in the air as a smile reached Erza's lips as she watched her younger teammate. Somehow, she felt like she didn't want Ava to grow up: the girl brought life into Fairy Tail, cheering on her comrades even though she could be slightly immature sometimes (Erza amounted that to her age, the Re-Equip Mage was sure she would grow out of it eventually)._

"_Erza, let's go!' Ava held out a hand._

"_Yeah." She took it._

* * *

_They're alive._

_You don't know that. _A small voice in the back of her mind voiced her doubts. _They're probably dead, and now you can finally bury their bodies back home._

_They're _alive, she insisted. _I know it. I can _feel _it, right down in my heart._

Ren watched, his eyebrows creased, as Ava mentally wrestled with herself, frowning as she stood silent as they waited to board the Christina. He felt like he should say something, anything to stop her from thinking too much of the situation. It could have been a false reading. It might have been a false alarm. It might be fake. There might not actually be anyone waiting at what once was Tenroujima Island. He-he-

He didn't want her to leave.

Somewhere, selfishly inside of him, he wanted Ava to stay with them. They were her new team; her new guild. They were the ones who picked her back up again and helped her when she needed it. _They_ were the ones she had been spending time with for the past 2 years. And they could have, no..._would_ have spent even more time with her had they found her before then.

It wasn't like he loved her. No, that honor went to Sherry and Sherry alone: the pink-haired woman had stolen his heart a long time ago. But Ava was his teammate, his friend, his _comrade_. Thinking back to the days when she wasn't on their team made his chest constrict. She was like the little sister he never had.

Ren shifted, the collar of his leopard-print shirt bumping into his tanned neck as he ran his fingers through his dark hair, his other hand adjusting his collar, clearing his throat. "Ava-"

"I know," she said darkly. "I know the chance of them actually being alive is close to none. Yet...yet.." Ava casted him a desperate look, looking for solace and advice that really only Gray and Lyon could give her, and Ren had never felt so useless to help his teammates until that moment. "Why can't I forget about them?"

His mouth felt dry as he urged his body to move forward, to embrace her, to comfort her but it was too no avail: his feet felt like they were cemented to the ground. Ava sighed, her shoulders slumping as she gave him a weary smile, pushing back the wave of emotions as she apologized for inconveniencing her teammate. "Sorry, Ren. I'm just...stressed."

"It's alright, sweetheart." The words slipped out of his mouth half from habit and half out of the urge to comfort her without much thought. Trying to find something to say, he finished lamely, rubbing his head and blushing slightly as he looked away. "Even if...well, even if there isn't anything, you...you always have us."

Ava hummed thoughtfully, her eyes softening as she said, "I guess so." Sighing, she let out an exhale. "Sorry, Ren. I was just acting irrationally and selfish for a moment there."

"It's fine. That's why we have our team, right?"

She did not reply, but the smile that graced her lips was enough of an answer to Ren as he relaxed, his good deed done.

The two stood in a comfortable silence: one having tried so many times to flirt or start a conversation that he had just learned to give up (not to mention the long lecture he got from her about how flirting ruined team dynamics defintely helped), and one perfectly content with the quietness. The moment of peace was only ruined by the arrival of Ichiya, his orange hair sweeping back as he landed before them and posed, his hand outstretched and fingers shaped into a 'V'. "She's ready!"

"Thank you, Ichiya."

"It is no problem! The perfume of your love and appreciation is enough!" He sparkled, and the two had to duck before they were overwhelmed by a barrage of sparkles that eminated from their team leader.

Both couldn't help but smile at Ichiya's comical antics, and Ren put an arm around her waist as she tried not to tense too much before lifting them with his Air Magic onto the ship. That brief moment in the air was enough to make her woozy, and silently she cursed Natsu for influencing her to the point that even _she_ could feel a little sick now whenever on a moving vehicle. As soon as he dropped her on the deck, she fell to her knees and tried to glare at him. "I thought you didn't have to hold anyone to lift them. Or touch them in any way, for the matter."

"I don't." He shrugged nonchalantly. "But I wanted to. Makes the ladies swoon, you know?"

She raised her eyebrows, and he blushed and looked away, rubbing the back of his head boyishly as he let out a small, "I-it's not like I want to impress you or anything."

"Oh, drop the act," Ava said exasperatedly, sighing as her eyebrows knit together. "As wonderfully amusing as it is seeing you act all tsundere, you're more of a classic playboy."

"I thought that was Hibiki's thing?"

"Nope. Hibiki's the suave one. You're the arrogant one. Eve's the cute one," she deadpanned without an ounce of remorse as Ren winced at her choice of words.

"Aw, that hurts."

"You want me to kiss it better?" she retorted.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind that."

…

…

…

"I give up." She did a 180 and flipped around, stomping away as she muttered something about incurable flirts and how she always got the stubborn idiots.

It was always fun to tease her. Ren chuckled.

* * *

"You know, you're strange, _nee-chan_." Eve noted. They were both standing near the edge of the Christina, allowing the wind to blow in their faces and loosen their hair. It was refreshing in a way; the tranquility, peace, and quiet of the atmosphere was something that seemed almost unearthly.

"How so?" Ava gave him a scowl, the motion looking natural on her face as she turned to face him fully. She tucked a stray strand of black hair, dark as the night sky, as she waited for his answer impatiently, looking slightly irritated from some reason Eve couldn't fathom. It seemed like ever since the Christina had taken off Ava had been in a bad mood, but he couldn't help but say what he had to say next.

"The women of Fairy Tail are usually only insanely scary, crazy, or sweet. But you seem to possess all three of these traits."

Her eyebrow twitched, and bronze orbs stared down sky blue in a deadpan expression. "I'm not sure if I should thank you or kill you for that."

"You see?" Eve grinned happily. "Just like that!"

"Why, you-"

"You're proving my point~ You know _nee-chan_ looks really pretty when she's flustered."

"_Eve!_ I swear when I get my hands on you I'll make you suffer like you never have befo-hey! Hibiki!"

"Now, now." Hibiki smiled placatingly, barely flinching as her furious gaze landed on him. "As lovely as it is hearing you spout profound curses and threats at my teammate while we're aboard the Christina, I'd ask you to refrain from distracting me from my book, Ava-chan."

"_Distracting?_ Me? You distract all of us whenever we meet Sherry and some of the other members of Lamia Scale on a job!" (Well, in actuality he was distracted by _every_ woman he met, so she couldn't comment on it too much.) "Jenny too, and she's part of our own guild!"

"That's...different. Sherry is a very beautiful individual and any man with eyes would feel slightly distracted when around her. Same thing with Jenny." He suddenly smirked, adding to his sentence slyly, "Besides, you can't tell me that you don't get a little...distracted whenever you see Lyon."

She blushed, her face turning a scarlet tint that Hibiki couldn't help but think suited her. That rare moment of discomposure was over, and she quickly assumed her business-mode again, a side personality Hibiki had gotten quite used to in the time they had spent. She was always like that: schooling her expression to show no emotion whenever any comment struck too close to home. "We're just friends."

"Of course," Hibiki said in a supposed to be reassuring manner that had a playful lilt to it that signaled he was completely skeptical of her statement as she gave him a deadpan expression that spelled _I don't believe you_. "You know, if you don't make a move soon, he'll find someone else he likes right? Trust me, I know."

"Says the guy who ranked second consecutively in the Sorcerer's Magazine's poll of _The Wizard I'd Like to be My Boyfriend_." She snorted. "I don't need a man, least of all Lyon Vastia. Or you, for the matter."

"Keep saying that, _Ava-chan._" Hibiki's eyes glittered mischievously, a mysterious look coming over his face as some emotion she couldn't recognize took over. "Keep saying that."

* * *

**A/N: Don't worry. We'll get to all the drama soon...next chapter. (mwahahaha)**

**Anyways, thank you for all the reviews/favorites/follows/reads! It means a lot to me and helps me get inspiration to write~**

**On a totally different subject, _who do you guys want to see more of?_ So far I mainly think everyone loves Lyon (I do too hehe) and that's why you'll see more of him in the future, but I want to know what the readers want to read.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

_"Ava!"_

_The black hair Seals-Mage had been walking down the cobblestone street leading from Fairy Hills, the dormitory most female Fairy Tail members stayed at, to the guild when she suddenly stopped, hearing her name being called by a higher, distinctively female, voice. Turning to her left, where she felt like the voice came from, she spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair and brightened. "Lucy!" She acknowledged her teammate. "What are you doing here?"_

_"What do you say about a girl's day out? I got Erza, and Natsu and Gray are still on their mission." The blonde mage practically sparkled as she clasped her hands together, her chocolate brown eyes big and pleading as she gave her best pleading look. "We're meeting at the square."_

_"I suppose..." Ava said doubtfully, flicking her hair with her finger as she tied it into a ponytail with her free hand with a golden ribbon that matched her eyes. It was more practical that way. "Anyone else coming?"_

"_Nope, just us girls." Lucy laughed, shaking her head, tapping a finger on her chin thoughtfully as she added, "Wendy's coming along too, if it's okay. I think that Cana's going to crash our party too, when I was talking to Wendy she seemed interested."_

"_That's fine." Ava rolled her shoulders, flexing her arms. "The more, the merrier, am I right?" At this, the blonde brightened, her blue ribbon bouncing in the sunlight as she held Ava's hands in her own, saying her gratitude multiple times. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou-"_

"_Woah, there." Ava held up a hand, a little surprise showing in her face as her copper eyes flickered with an emotion...was it understanding? She couldn't really recognize it. "Slow down. What's got you so excited about this?"_

"_I never really got to hang out with girls back...home." Lucy's eyes turned melancholic for a second as she seemed to reminisce about something. "My parents were always worrywarts." Her teammate sensed that there was more to the matter than that, but she let it be and didn't press further. Lucy was an important person to her: as a teammate _and _as a friend. She was important to their whole team: the sane (comparably to the others) companion to Gray, the confident to Ava, the best friend to Erza, and the crush (oh, yes, Ava had noticed those subtle moments of blushing and linking hands between the Dragon Slayer and Celestial Mage) to Natsu._

"_Ah," Ava nodded in understanding. "I see." Feeling the uncomfortable mood and wanting to lift her teammate's sadness, she smiled at the blonde as Ava pulled the girl to the streets. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head to the square!"_

_Lucy brightened. "Yeah!"_

* * *

If they were to arrive, they were to arrive in style. It was the unspoken rule of Blue Pegasus, the guild with some of the most gorgeous people of the era in it. Originally, it had been a small guild but the Trimens had managed to allure many beautiful females, which in turn brought in more male mages. They might not be the powerfullest guild in Fiore: that honor went to Sabertooth at the moment, a new guild that had rose shortly after Fairy Tail's fall, but they still held power as the fourth most powerful guild in Fiore, and they had to keep up that title with honor.

Ichiya suddenly stood up, signalling they were nearing the Fairy Tail guild, and stood up on the figurehead of the ship: a noble pegasus, its legs raised slightly as if about to take off. He sniffed the air a few times, and his teammates watched silently. "...It reeks of sentimental perfume…" He posed for a moment, emanating sparkles before letting himself drop to the ground quite literally. "_Tohh!"_ Ava ran to the side of the ship, peering curiously as she saw Ichiya land on the ground, but it seemed like he was largely unaffected by the drop.

"Come on," Ren nudged her as his Air Magic swirled around the remainder of the team, letting them slowly descend to the ground. Ava's eyes darted around, seeing several familiar figures that had all changed from what they used to. Laki, Droy, Jet, Macao-the list continued, and a small forlorn smile found itself on her lips as she gave them a small smile.

"You…" Macao said, stepping back a few steps as he took in the team's presence.

"We understand how you feel, Ichiya-sama, but won't you settle down a bit?" Hibiki asked, his hands shoved in his pockets as he sighed-an action he had done a lot whenever his team was around.

Seeing some of Fairy Tail's mages questioning looks, Ren said, "I am...a user of Air Magic." He was still solely concentrated on their slow descent, just in case something went wrong and they would plummet to the ground.

"It's been a long time, everyone!" Eve smiled, but the flicker in his eye was hard to miss as he gazed at the remains of the once-powerful guild. As they landed, he couldn't help but giggle. "Getting older, Macao-san?"

"Blue Pegasus…" "What the heck is going on?" Ava heard several mutters from her former guildmates and she sighed, slipping her hands in her pockets as she gave an acknowledging nod to those who glanced at her before looking away. She knew that there would be mixed feelings about this trip. She turned to glance at her teammates before finding them surrounding Laki, thrusting out various compliments as Laki just looked confused.

"Boys, let's get down to business." Ava plugged her nose, motioning towards the doors as she turned to Macao. "May we come inside?"

* * *

"...readings. Master Bob's checked several times just in case it was nothing, but these readings are off the charts! I even checked myself just in case." Hibiki concluded, his eyes serious as he displayed several of the Eternano readings to Macao and the rest of the guild. His teammates were seated next to him: Ava to his left, Ren to his right, and Eve next to Ava. "I believe there is something out there. Usually Eternano is concentrated in small amounts so it's nothing unusual to see some of those pop up sometimes, but this…" He gestured to the readings, which were graphs with several sharp inclines. "...is very unusual. It's up to your guild of how you want to deal with this situation though."  
Fairy Tail casted several glances towards the other members of the room before Macao spoke for all of them. "We'll check it out," he said finally. "Thank you." Turning to his guildmates, he asked, "Who is willing to come?"

"We will." The doors opened, revealing Alzack and Bisca. The last time Ava had seen them was at their wedding, which she had been invited to but only stayed long enough to give her congratulations before continuing on her journey around Fiore as a Solo-Mage despite the couple's protests. A boy..._was that Romeo?_ was standing behind them, hands crossed and pressed against his chest as a prominent frown was on his face.

Soon after the couple volunteered, other hands began to shoot up. "I will." "Me too." "Well, I suppose I'll join." "We'll go." Max, Warren, Jet, Droy rose their hands in unison, exchanging looks as the other members of Fairy Tail gave guilty glances towards the ground. They just...didn't want to keep their hopes up.

"Ava." Macao addressed her for the first time in the whole conversation, his voice serious as he asked his next question. "Would you like to go with them?"

Suddenly placed in the limelight, the girl froze, her fist clenching as her gaze was directed downwards, a myriad of emotions and memories flying through her mind before she looked up and gave him a rueful smile. "No thanks. I'm...I'm going to stick with my team." Turning to face her former guildmates that were about to set off, amber eyes glinting with some emotion Hibiki couldn't really discern, even though to his annoyance her ex-guildmates seemed to get it. She gave them a painful smile. "Bring them back to us, okay?"

An understanding smile lit up on the group's faces as they clapped her on the back, giving her a look of confidence that she hadn't seen in her former guildmates for so long. "Of course we will."

* * *

The wait was more agonizing than Ava had ever imagined. She stayed inside the guild, pacing back and forth on the wooden floor until Macao jokingly told her that she would wear out the floor if she kept doing that. Instead, she sat next to teammates, silent, face in her hands as she breathed in and out.

"_Nee-chan._" Eve nudged her. "Why don't you talk to some of your old guildmates?"

"Don't wanna…"

"You're acting more childish than Eve right now." Ren snorted, but all of his heart didn't really seem into it as his eyebrows knitted together in slight concern. "Just sitting here won't do any good. Talk to them."

"..."

"Ava…" Hibiki took a deep breath, laying his hands on her shoulders as he made her look at him straight in the eye. "You need to get over this. Talk to them."

"What if I said I didn't want to?"

"That would be a lie and you know it."

Slowly, after a few moments of silence, Ava rose and gave a deep sigh. "Alright." Taking a glance at her team, she added a quieter, "Sorry about this, guys."

"We're part of a team. This is what we would do for a teammate, whether it be you, Eve, Hibiki, or I." Ren leaned back nonchalantly as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Just go."

"Thanks." She repeated again, her eyes slightly lowered as she stood up and started walking to Romeo, the not-so-small boy leaning against the wall with a scowl present on his face. The last time she had seen him was at the wedding, and he was just as grumpy as he was now. Romeo...Romeo used to be like the Sun: always smiling, welcoming the team back whenever they came from a mission. He was like the little brother of the guild. "Romeo," she said flatly.

"Ava-nee." He said in an equally flat voice. It seemed like he still wasn't over Fairy Tail's core members disappearing, although Ava had to admit she hadn't either. After all, wasn't she trying to forget them by leaving all those years ago?

"How have you been?" She tried, playing nervously with her hair as she waited for his response. Her teammates had been the ones to find her, broken, and pull her back up to her feet. She was stronger now, both mentally and physically.

"Terrible. Especially after everyone began to leave." He deadpanned with no remorse as she winced. A low blow, that was, and she knew that Romeo knew it was one. Even so, the boy didn't retract the statement, and Ava had to admit it _was_ her fault partially for him ending up like this. If she hadn't left...what would have happened to the guild then?

"Why aren't you going along with everyone?" She tried again.

"Why aren't you?" He challenged, and she faintly heard Macao yell something at him in disapproval as the members of Fairy Tail diverted their attention to their conversation. She gave him a small smile.

"I don't deserve to." She spoke the honest truth, closing her eyes as she thought back to those moments with Lyon, his silent disapproval of her decision yet supportive answer. Her naive nature, her hurt, her pain...all of it. "I thought quitting would help me forget, but it turns out I was just running away." Tilting her head, she looked at him and smiled. "Isn't that right?"

Romeo stayed silent, but Ava knew that her words struck a chord somewhere deep inside his heart, and she gave him a small smile and ruffled his raven black hair just as she used to as she bent down to look at him in the eye. " I'm proud of you Romeo," she said softly, and she knew he heard it because of the slight stiffening of his back. Pulling back, she walked over to Reedus.

"Can I see what you've drawn?" She asked, and the orange haired mage looked up from his sketchbook and brightened. Ava had always used to compliment the man when she was a part of the guild and was one of the few people who appreciated his artwork. He hesitated, his eyes darting to his sketchbook before reluctantly handing it over. She opened it warily, steeling her heart as she peered through the book.

The smiling faces of her with her team met her. In the first picture was them...Team Natsu in all their glory. Gray was sitting on the barstool, smirking, next to a younger, happier Ava who was at that moment taunting an infuriated Natsu, his back facing the picture. Erza and Lucy were slightly off to the side, the Celestial mage in the middle of scolding Natsu and Ava as Erza was cracking her knuckles ominously. The second picture was a picture of the entire guild, rowdy, as they all were smiling and patting each other on the shoulder as they partied like Fairy Tail used to. With trembling fingers, Ava continued to flip the pages as her breath nearly caught on every single on. Finally looking up, she smiled at Reedus, eyes reminiscent yet guilty. "They're wonderful pictures, Reedus-san."

The man began to tear up, and Ava wondered how long it had been since he had last heard those words. _Too long,_ it seemed. "T-thank you Ava-san."

"You're welcome." She smiled warmly, feeling her cheeks warm just a little bit as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. She opened her mouth, intending to say something comforting, but suddenly there was a loud thud as the door was forced open with a slam, and she turned to see several people standing at the doors of Fairy Tail. Eve, Hibiki, and Ren tensed, their bodies ready to spring up at any time, but for the moment stayed idle.

"Oi, there are a lot fewer people today. Rather than a guild, what is this? Some kind of friendship club?" A man with curly black hair laughed maliciously, his hands in his pockets and guildmark proudly displayed on his right arm. Behind him, his subordinates laughed, their eyes narrowed as they gave a cursory glance around the guild.

The remaining of Fairy Tail's guild members stood up. "Oi, Teebo! Payment is due next month, isn't it?" Ava's eyes narrowed as she glanced at the man. She had heard that Fairy Tail had taken a debt to some other guild, and that the guild was pushy with their debt, but she didn't expect utter mockery of her former guild. Her hands snaked to her bag of scrolls, but didn't move yet.

"It's a problem if payments are not made on schedule." The man grinned sinisterly, "If Master said it, then it can't be helped."

Ava suddenly jumped hearing a sharp sound, and her head swerved to see Romeo, who was reading a book of spells until that moment, shutting the book with a slam and standing up, fire in his eyes just as his role model used to. "We don't have money to pay to you guys."

Ava realized that he was about to start a fight, and heard Macao try to stop his son as the boy started to walk towards Teebo. She took a deep inhale, speaking up. "But I do." All attention in the room was turned to her, Romeo momentarily stopping, and Hibiki shot a warning look towards her to which she gave an acknowledging nod. She slammed her hand against the table, eyes focusing on the man. "How much do they still owe you?"

The man grinned. "Now you're talking. Lookie here, boys: _this_ is a real woman." He swaggered over to her, slinking his arm over her shoulders as she visibly tensed. "Now, what's a beautiful girl like you doing in this junk-guild?"

"Visiting some old friends." She answered coldly, flashing her Blue Pegasus mark on her wrist with pride. "The name's Ava Lucioni, former Fairy Tail mage and now part of the Trimens. Remember that." And with that, she gave him a sickenly sweet smile before clenching his fist a little too tightly to be friendly and brightened at the sound of cracking.

"Damn bit-" As soon as he drew his sword from the sheath on his back, he was sent flying by a powerful kick. Several things happened at once, and Ava had to blink to make sure she wasn't hallucinating as she felt her breath take a sharp intake, her amber eyes widening. A few punches straight to the face, and the rest of Teebo's teammates were down.

No... She took a step back, her breath quickening as her eyes widened, her mouth agape.

.

"Yo."

.

_No._ She took another step back, slowly shaking her head as if to deny what was right in front of her eyes as she heard other voice resound from behind her, all familiar and all bringing back memories of the past.

"We've come back~"

.

It couldn't be…

.

"Wahh, isn't it wonderful?"

.

_No…_ Ava's face filled with both horror and joy as she turned around slowly, everything seemingly stopping in time as she bit her lip anxiously, afraid of what she would find.

.

"Alcohol, alcohol~"

"What's up with this tiny guild?"

.

Her ears were ringing as she took a sharp inhale, trying to steady her breath as she turned around.

.

"Sorry for the wait, _minna!_" Natsu grinned, his face illuminated by the light shining behind him, his obsidian eyes just as bright and happy as they were seven years ago, and his teeth showing as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly while he smiled.

* * *

**A/N: The end. LOL, no. This was originally 5000 something words but I cut it into two chapters, so...yeah...expect a quicker update sometime next week.**

**Anyways, what do you think? Too cliche? Gets you excited? What characters do you like best?**

**Oh, and by the way I created a _POLL_ on my page on the character thing. There's a lot of options.**

**If you have the time, please drop a review~ I love hearing what all of you think about this story, whether it be Ava, the plot, etc. It helps my inspiration a lot~  
**

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows/reads! Your support helps me a lot!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Yo. This is what you've been waiting for, so I hope it'll suffice. It's longer than most of the chapters, but meh. I f****igured you didn't want to wait any longer.**

* * *

_It was the day before the Harvest Festival, and the whole town of Magnolia was bustling with action and excitement as they hurried about, putting up decorations and setting up tents and other booths in preparation for the next day's festival._

"_...I'm still not sure if 500,000 jewels is worth it," Ava said flatly as she gave a deadpan look towards Erza, who was at the moment sparkling. It was the year of x782, and for some particular reason the redhead had suddenly grown enthusiastic about the idea of entering the Miss Fairy Tail contest. Mirajane had been the reigning winner for several years, although the white haired woman was thinking about not entering this year to give the others a chance. Erza, who had been on a long term mission for quite a while, had only entered it once or twice and always fell one place behind Mirajane. Thus, the more competitive and Fairy Tail side of her came out and she decided that this year she would take part in the competition and for some reason brought Ava along with her._

"_Nonsense! It will be a worthwhile opportunity of showing off Fairy Tail's power!"_

"_Don't you mean girls?"_

"_It'll be _fine_, Ava." Cana, who had been listening silently to the conversation the whole time as she chugged down another barrel of booze waved a hand, a small dash of pink covering her face. "Listen, I've participated every year and still haven't won. But that doesn't put me down."_

"_Winning's not the point." Ava deadpanned, crossing her hands across her chest as she leaned back on the table. "The fact is I'm going to be oogled by a crowd of perverts who will be assessing my assets to see if I'm 'worthy' or not to be Miss Fairy Tail."_

"_Well, they're not that perverted…" At Ava's skeptical glance Cana had to shrug and mutter as she sunk back into her seat, "True enough."_

"_I don't want to do this…" _

"_Then don't." Gray appeared beside her, an action he seemed to be doing a lot around Ava for some reason, and slid next to her own the wooden bench as he faced Cana, waving to Mirajane to bring him a water. "Why force her?"_

"_I'm not forcing her." Cana gave a lazy shrug, a smirk playing at her lips as she spoke, leering towards him as she raised her eyebrows suggestively as Mirajane hurried and set a glass of water on the table, the ice cubes sliding back and forth in the glass thanks to the hurried gesture. "But I'm sure _you'd _love to see her participate."_

"_W-what?" Gray turned beet red, an action so out of character for the mage that Ava blinked bewilderedly to make sure she didn't just imagine it. The Ice Mage glared at the Cards Mistress. "Cana, stop joking about that kind of stuff! Ava's just a little kid-"_

"_She's just four years younger than you, Gray." Cana deadpanned as Gray took a sip of water to calm him down. "In another few years she'll be a grown woman."_

"_Cana," Ava warned, poking her friend with her finger to silence her as she sighed. "You take things too literally. How many times do I have to tell you that Gray and I are _not _like that? We're just friends. Best friends, but friends. That's like saying that idiot Natsu and Gray will ever hook up." At that statement Gray nearly choked on the water he was drinking._

"_Oi! I heard my name!" As if invoked by magic, Natsu popped up into the conversation as he joined the group at the table, watching an amused Erza (who had been silent the entire time) warily as if she would explode on him at any moment (which she could). The Salamander peered at his friends curiously. "Whatcha talkin about?"_

"_Oh, just the probability of you and Gray hooking up." Cana hummed innocently, an evil grin spreading across her face as she exchanged looks with Ava as theoretical sparkles appeared around them. "Oh, Ava, how could we separate such true love? We're sorry, Natsu, Gray, for never noticing how you were meant to be."_

_Ava, understanding that the mage just wanted to piss off her teammates, clasped her hands together as she leaned towards Cana, her eyes looking far into the distance as they sparkled. "Oh, Cana, how could we never notice?" The two threw their arms around each other as they embraced, crying comically as they wailed, "Such tragic star-crossed lovers! Fire and Ice, never meant to be-"_

"_Would you _shut up _already? Oi, Cana, weren't you supposed to be the responsible one?" Gray nearly yelled, panting deeply from doing such as he stood up, glaring at the two._

"_I am responsible!" She called back. "I just love to piss you all off!"_

"_Ava, you're rubbing off on her too much. Same to you, Natsu." Erza glared at the two mages as they both laughed, albeit Natsu's twitching eyebrow gave away the fact that he was _not _very happy about being called Gray's lover._

"_Love you too…" The girl breathed, holding in her laughter as her amber eyes blinked a few times before she regained her composure, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she couldn't help but smirk, the word 'manipulative' flashing above her head. "Erza, I am not entering...unless Gray and Natsu enter with us." An evil gleam appeared in Erza's eyes as she craned her head to look at the two male members of Team Natsu, and slowly a look of horror overtook the two boys' faces as they realized what their evil teammate had just said._

"_WHAT?!"_

_The next day, right before the show was about to begin, a _very _embarrassed and fuming Gray was standing alongside a similarly furious Natsu, both decked in a full wardrobe. Gray was wearing a pretty dark blue dress made out of satin and tied together with a navy blue sash, a wig the same color as his hair except instead reaching his waist skillfully positioned, and makeup applied everywhere to make sure no one would even suspect he was a guy. _

_Natsu was wearing a similar pink wig that was styled in a bob cut, along with a simple pink dress that went along with his black heels. It was a hilarious sight to be seen, and the boys could be seen visibly twitching as they glared at Erza and Ava (although mainly the latter, considering her wish was what had gotten them in the situation in the first place)._

"_And contest number one is none other than Fairy Tail's Titania, Erza Scarlet!" The announcement could be heard throughout the hall as various cheers resounded. Even though Erza was no more than 17 she was already one of the most well known mages of Fiore. The red head gave a nod towards her fellow comrades before walking outside and onto the stage, re-equiping into a very...sexy and revealing neko/cat girl outfit as she posed for the audience, the roars of the audience overwhelming the hall._

_ Following her was the next contestant, Mirajane. The weird thing about the Strauss girl was that sometimes, she could be wonderfully seductive and beautiful in the beauty contests when she tried, but sometimes did something weird that lost her votes…luckily (or maybe was it unluckily because she was competing?) the past few years Mirajane had been winning by a landslide._

_This time, however, Mirajane had come out in a wedding dress, holding a bouquet of flowers, smiling and waving as cameras flashed and the audience went wild. Behind her, Ava could hear mutters of disappointment from the other Fairy Tail women as their fate was set. Soon enough, it was Ava's turn to step on the stage, and she tugged at her outfit one final time to make sure it was secure before stepping out on the stage, plastering a bright grin on her face as she waved._

_She was wearing a decorative kimono, somewhere between the lines of traditional and modern. The dress hugged to her body tightly, cutting off at her knees instead of being long like the traditional kimono, however the pattern/design of the kimono was a traditional red autumn leaf design. It was nice: it fit her age, not too sexy, but not too cute either. She could feel the stares of the audience on her as they cheered and involuntarily shivered. She gave a bright smile, summoning two scrolls and opening them, unsealing Gray's Ice Magic and Laxus's Lightning Magic (that had taken a _long _time to convince him to let her seal some of his magic, the stubborn man). The ice crystals flew into the sky along with the lightning, and the room was illuminated for a split second before the ice began to come down as snow._

_Everyone's faces were in complete awe for a second and Ava couldn't help but bask in the attention-albeit _borrowed _attention but still attention as itself-her teammates were usually the eye-catching ones. But that moment was over, and someone started applauding as others joined her. She bowed and left the stage, giggling when the confused announcer said, "Uh...G-Gray Fullbuster? Miss? Miss... Gray Fullbuster?"_

_It was just a normal day at Fairy Tail, really._

* * *

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't _breathe_. Her chest felt constricted, as if taking one breath would make her keel over, and she nearly felt her heart stop. "E-everyone…is back?" All around her, cries of joy sounded from the Fairy Tail members that had stayed back from the guild, only a few like Romeo and Ava standing still in complete shock. She faintly felt a hand on her shoulder, and her head mechanically turned to see Hibiki, his face grim but a little light flickering through his eyes as he gave her his silent support.

Various explanations of what happened at Tenroujima were thrown into the air as eventually everyone fell silent as Lucy, looking exactly like she was seven years ago minus the fact that she looked completely exhausted, explained that Mavis, the first master, had led their guildmates to find them and that they were sleeping for the past seven years after Acnologia attacked the island.

Natsu suddenly caused a commotion as he turned to Romeo, giving him the grin that Ava had missed for so long and saying, "You're all grown up, Romeo."

Romeo spoke the words she couldn't, her throat not being able to speak a coherent word as Romeo smiled, the first true smile from him she had seen in years as tears flowed down his cheeks. "Welcome back, Natsu-nii, everyone!"

It seemed like the stunned silence that had kept Fairy Tail immobile before had lifted, and quickly the missing guild members were mobbed by their guildmates, and Ava quietly moved to the side to let them through before a voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Ava." That name seemed to roll off the person's tongue so easily, as if seven years had never passed since that last time he had spoken that name.

She turned, and it was as if everything had become in slow motion as the sounds of revelry around them were drowned out by the faint ringing of her ears as she felt her lips move to say the name she hadn't spoken in forever. "Gray."

"..." How she wished she could have Master Bob's magic right now: all she wanted to do was just _disappear_. He looked exactly the same as he had been when they all left: young, healthy, and still unbelievably stunning. And her? She tucked a strand of stray raven hair, eyes not leaving the person in front of her.

They stood there for one long moment, staring at each other, and Ava suddenly felt self-conscious. She must have looked horrible: her raven black hair messed up and turned at all sorts of angles from her worrying before, dark circles under her eyes, and tears that just wouldn't leave her eyes. Her fists clenched before she felt herself react in a way she hadn't for seven years. "You _idiot!_" She broke down, hitting his chest with her fists as she buried herself in his chest. "Do you _know_ how worried we were? Do you _know_ how much everyone's suffered? Do you _know _how long _seven years _are?! Idiot! IDIOT! _IDIOT!"_

He stood silent the whole time as she felt his shoulder sag. "Ava-"

"No." Her voice broke. "Do you know how it feels like for your entire team to just _disappear_ like that? Do you?" Her black hair covered her face as she whispered almost inaudibly, "I missed _you_, Gray. I missed...everyone."

"I know…" He ran a hand through his dark black hair as he seemed to make a silent decision. "I'm sorry for breaking our promise." And she felt his warm arms around her, pulling her in close for an embrace as they stood there for a moment, nothing mattering rather than the beating of his firm chest against hers. Pulling back, he gave her a tired smirk. "You look different. More mature. Better."

"Of course." Her lips twitched upward, and she felt herself settle into the usual routine once more, albeit the fact that she was nearly as tall as Gray now and she was really too grown up to actually play along fully. "It's been seven years. I've changed."

"Oi, Ava! You're stronger now, right? Duel with me!"

And just as sudden as Gray had embraced her, she found herself torn from his grasp as she found herself staring into Natsu's obsidian eyes. A tired laugh left her mouth. "Well, Natsu, I'm not sure. After all, I'd completely crush you."

The pink haired boy looked completely insulted. "Would not!"

"Would too." She didn't even have the energy to yell at him as she used to, and she felt if she used any more energy her shaking knees would give out on her and she would collapse.

"Would not!"

"I…" She flicked her black hair so it was tucked back behind her ear, an undeniable smirk crossing over her face as she realized that she was stronger than him, a goal she had been trying to achieve for so long. "...am now your superior, Natsu. After all, I haven't been idle these past seven years."

"Well then, the next time we go on a mission I can just find out how strong you are!"

Ava felt herself stiffen at the statement, and she quickly drew back so that she stood next to her team, who had been silent the whole time with neutral expressions on their faces, but she saw the faintest trace of a smile on their faces as she stood beside them. Were they really that worried she would leave them? If in any other circumstance Ava would have pouted and talked to them, but this was different. She gave Natsu an apologetic smile. "Actually, Natsu, I'm afraid I'm not a part of your team anymore."

It seemed like that statement had caught the rest of Team Natsu's attentions, and quickly they all protested.

The, "You're always a part of our team, Ava!" from Erza that nearly broke her heart.

The expected response from Natsu, obsidian eyes flashing overprotectivevly. "You're _our_ teammate!"

A little more skepticism from Lucy and Gray as they sighed and hoped for the best. "...why _those_ flirts of all people?"

But those protests were quickly hushed when she lifted her finger to her lips.

"From now on, we're rivals, everyone." A smile tugged at her lips, although a pang of guilt-an emotion she thought she had buried a long time ago-hit her as she tried to make that smile more genuine. "Prove Fairy Tail's strength for me, please." And for a brief moment she wondered if Fairy Tail would enter in the Grand Magic Games with their horrible loss last year, but she quickly dispelled the thought. With the guild members back, they'd definitely make a return.

This defeated look on the girl's face was just so shocking that Gray nearly took a step back. This wasn't like Ava: the spitfire of the guild whose temper only lost to Natsu, the girl who would argue to no end with Natsu and possibly Gray if they dared to baby her. But then again, Gray thought as he shot her a glance, maybe this _was_ her now. A tired, yet all the same ruggedly beautiful woman who had seen too much of the world for her own good. She was older, Gray realized. More mature. Though by the looks of it, part of the old Ava was still there.

"_You!_" Natsu suddenly pointed a finger at Hibiki, and his face was turned downwards in a scowl, the expression slightly scary on his face, before he grinned. "You might have stolen Ava away for now, but we'll definitely get her back!"

"You can try." Hibiki put his hand around her shoulders, pulling her close to him as Ava found herself the rope in a weird game of Tug of War, her face being pressed from one powerful mage's chest to another's as she felt heat rush to her cheeks, a light pink dusting her cheeks thanks to Hibiki's next statement. "But she's ours, and we're keeping her."

She rolled her amber eyes, meeting Hibiki's dark brown orbs, "I'm not anyone's property," she reminded her teammate gently, slipping out of his grip with ease as the blonde-haired mage frowned, covering it up suavely as he plastered on another grin.

"Stay for the party." Mirajane suddenly appeared, joining the conversation with ease as her pale white hair trailed behind her, her hands clasped together as she gave them a gentle smile. "It's our treat, after all, you helped our guild out a lot."

"Why, thank you beautiful." All three of her teammates flipped back to flirt mode, and the thought that _one_ of her teammates was missing struck her as Ava searched about the room she saw Ichiya bothering Erza, sparkling as the latter looked thoroughly disturbed and pathetic as she shrunk away from the orange haired man, still keeping a careful hold on her plate of strawberry shortcake as she gave a wary look towards the Trimen as if daring him to try and steal her cake from him.

"Please, not now Ichiya-sama." Erza's eyebrow twitched as the red head paused to take a bite of her strawberry shortcake before giving a disgusted look at the Trimens' leader began to sniff her. Ava swore she saw a ghost exit Erza's body before it seemingly returned to the Re-Equip Mage as she pushed Ichiya away, an annoyed look on her face.

"Your perfume is as manly as ever, Erza-san~Will you do me the honors to-" The man was promptly sent flying by a kick in the face courtesy a certain red haired mage. Ava was about to walk over there and scold her team leader when she was interrupted by a loud voice behind her.

"Oi, oi, Mira, this calls for some booze!" Cana cheered loudly, and Mira gave them an apologetic smile before going back to her usual post behind the guild's bar. In no time, everyone was celebrating, Fairy Tail's guild members pulling out food and ordering some from Magnolia, everyone sitting down somewhere to chat and make up for lost time.

Ava found herself pulled in a table and was soon seated between Gray and Juvia (the latter of whom gave a suspicious look at Ava: before they had been on good terms but that was only because she was too young for Juvia to even consider her as a 'love rival', but now the mage didn't know where their relationship stood), with Lucy, Reedus, and Wendy also seated. Behind Reedus, Laki stood and observed his drawings over his shoulder.

Ava cast a worried glance at her team, who just gave her nods like _catch up with them_ as they continued to flutter around and flirt with other girls.

...sometimes she wondered why her teammates acted so _immature_ even though they really were so much more.

Wendy's hands trembled as the bluenette-who was once close to Ava's age, but now not- held up one of Reedus's drawings: his prediction if she aged seven years like the rest of them had. "Um...Reedus-san, what is this?"

"Oui, I drew how I pictured Wendy to have grown after seven years."

Wendy mumbled something inaudible as the Exceeds gathered around a picture of themselves: all muscular with their curves filled out in a quite unrealistic way.

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

"I...even though I got bigger I didn't really get 'bigger', did I?" Wendy's eyes grew teary.

"Oui? Is there something wrong with my drawing?"

"Nothing's wrong with your drawing, Reedus-san." Ava drawled, rolling her eyes and giving Wendy a fond look. "Wendy's just worrying about nonsensical things. You're perfectly fine the way you are, Wendy."

"T-thanks Ava-san." The girl practically sniffled as Gray awkwardly patted her on the back, Juvia watching anxiously the whole exchange, twirling her blue hair with her finger, as Ava laughed.

"Same as ever, Juvia-chan."

"Same to you, Ava-san." Juvia's eyes suddenly turned into spirals as she started overthinking things. "W-wait, Juvia didn't ask permission to call you by your first name! How improper of Juvia... What if Ava-san hates Juvia? Should Juvia call Ava-san Lucioni-san?"

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Ava waved an idle hand, her shoulders slumping as a smile played at her face. They were the same as ever. She had been half afraid that they would have shunned her once they found out that she had joined another guild, but she felt glad that they were treating her the same way as they used to.

"I prefer not to use my last name anyways." It had always confused her when people addressed her as 'Lucioni-san' simply because she would be mixed up as her sister a lot, and even though they were...separated, the habit still stayed.

"Ava, we need to talk-" Gray was interrupted swiftly by the arrival of some other people.

The doors of the guild suddenly opened, and Ava tensed, expecting a fight or at least some kind of counter attack from the guild they had beaten before (she hadn't even bothered to learn their names), but brightened as she recognized the figures standing at the doorstep, standing up and ignoring whatever Gray was about to say.

"Lyon!" She called, walking over to the group, her strides wide as she visibly sparkled while the ignored Ice Mage sulked dejectedly. "How have you been?"

"Good." He looked around the room for a moment, the Ice-Mage's gaze resting briefly on his former rival (who was simmering and gloomy at the same time for being ignored by his former teammate and friend) as he turned to Ava. "Once we heard the news we headed over to Blue Pegasus to tell you, but it seems like you were already informed. That's why we got here so late." His eyes scanned the crowd of Fairy Tail mages, giving a nod when Ava thanked him for the effort. "Looks like it turned into a noisy guild again."

"Welcome back, everyone!" Sherry waved, and seeing Ren she immediately headed over to him as they began flirting with each other, Ren rubbing his head embarrassedly and the pink-haired girl blushing.

"You guys... Lamia Scale?" Gray stood up as well, seemingly recovered from being ignored, and Lucy blinked in shock as she took in the fact that their once-enemies smiled at them as Max explained that Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus had helped out the search team when they had first heard of Tenroujima's disappearance as Gray slowly relaxed.

"Looks like we're in their debt now." He grinned at Lyon, and the Ice Mages shared a silent understanding look before Lyon shrugged nonchalantly.

"Don't worry about it. Even though Blue Pegasus made it out here first, Lamia Scale has much more power." Lyon's statement was met with the protests of the Trimens, and Ava shrugged and silently admitted that it _was_ true, after all their guild recruited particularly beautiful people, not based on skill.

"They're the second most powerful guild in Fiore now," Ava added.

"Then is Blue Pegasus first?"

"Nope. A new guild...you'll probably encounter them eventually." Ava's eyes turned reminiscent as she remembered her first encounter with Sabertooth: she had met Sting during a mission, a Dragon-Slayer like Natsu, and his attitude was so much like the Fire Mage (plus an extra dose of cockiness) that the girl had quickly left afterwards. It didn't help that the Dragon Slayer's partner, Rogue, acted like a mix of Gray and Gajeel.

Several times after that she had encountered the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth, and despite her annoyance they were like a never-ending pain in her side, with Sting always persisting to challenge her (saying that if she was part of Fairy Tail's Team Natsu and the guild during its peak, she must have been strong) and Rogue flat out ignoring her.

"Enough of that...I'm just glad that all of you are well." Jura interrupted the conversation, and those words were the closest to the truth that the conversation stopped momentarily until Lyon turned and spotted Juvia. Seeing a sudden sparkle in his eye, Ava suddenly had a bad premonition and wished the best for the Water-Mage.

Lyon zipped over to Juvia, putting his arms on her shoulders, and said quite bluntly (all the while sparkling), "Is this what you call love at first sight?" A floral background surrounded the couple before the flowers were quickly blown away by Gray.

"Oi, not this annoying crap again!" Gray exclaimed, and Ava couldn't help but roll her eyes as she ignored the slight pain in her chest that hit her as Lyon moved past her without sparing her another glance. It would be fine: the Ice Mage was just an idiot when it came to certain things.

Juvia's eyes turned into spirals, and Ava zipped over to the girl almost as fast as Lyon did and held her hands in her own. "Breathe, Juvia, breathe." She instructed, knowing that the girl's overly imaginative imagination would start to come up with things by itself.

Turning around to look at Lyon, she scolded him, unknown emotions flashing through her eyes as she couldn't help the annoyance that seeped into her voice. "Lyon, stop acting so insensibly."

Gray casted her a worried glance, obviously picking up her annoyance-he had always been the person who had understood her the best when she was part of Fairy Tail-at which she gave him a nod. _I'm fine._

"But she's so…" Lyon put a hand over his chest and sighed like an elementary school girl having her first crush (which, Ava supposed, might have been true for Lyon's case: the man had never been interested in any people of the opposite gender until now) as Gray rolled his eyes and muttered something like, 'you're an idiot' which the other Ice-Mage promptly ignored, sighing again, the sparkles around him rivaling Ichiya's aura.

Ava plugged her nose, resisting the urge to say something stupid or burst into laughter-if Lyon was acting like an idiot, she had to be the mature one of the group-as she muttered, "Dear lord, please have mercy on me."

* * *

They had left as quickly as they came, and Ava wondered why she actually imagined they would have an emotionally charged departure as Natsu pointed at her and yelled, "The next time we fight, I'm going to win!" Just like old times.

"I'm you're _sempai_ now, Natsu." She rolled her eyes. The Fire Dragon-Slayer was the same as ever, she presumed, but she was suddenly pulled into a group hug, all members of Team Natsu embracing her.

"We'll miss you." "We're going to win you back." "We're sorry."

But most important of all, "You'll always be our _nakama_ Ava, no matter where you go. Remember that." Natsu gave her a toothy grin, and she felt the tears well up again as she hugged him a little tighter. "Thanks."

Pulling back, she stepped backwards as she stood next to her team, Ren giving her a raised eyebrow and a look that said _are you sure?_ She nodded, flashing them a grateful smile. "Thanks, guys."

"That's what teammates do, _nee-chan._" Eve corrected. "There's no need to thank us."

Ava still murmured her gratitude one more time before turning to face her former guild, giving them a smile as she held up her left hand: the Fairy Tail symbol visibly shown. "I never got rid of it. Just know I'm supporting you all, you got that? Oh, and everyone…" She casted her gaze around the room, meeting each and every one of her former guildmate's eyes before giving them a bright grin. "The next time I see you is at the Grand Magic Games."

And she turned around, Ren using his Air Magic to lift them up in the air and back onto the Christina, giving them a salute with her thumb and pointer finger sticking up, knowing that her guild was mirroring her action behind her. _No matter where you all are, I'm supporting you._ She heard several questions from the more eager guild members questioning the rest of what the Grand Magic Games were, and she found a smile tugging at her lips. They would come. She knew they would.

They landed on the deck of the Christina, and Ichiya gave them a signal that they were about to take off, sparkles emanating from his body as he did so. The rest of the team gave him a nod. "We're ready."

As the Christina took off, heading back to Blue Pegasus, heading back to her new _home_, Ava turned to her teammates and grinned, tying her raven black hair in a ponytail with a gold ribbon Laki had given her that matched her eyes. "Now, I say we should start training."

* * *

**A/N: And how's _that_ for a reunion? Heh, not the best compared to some really good authors out there, but I'm satisfied (usually that person who writes one line per paragraph...). **

**Thanks for reviewing/favoriting/following/reading~ You do not know how often I'm tempted to quit until I get a notification that one of you've reviewed my story.**

**Until next time~**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: And here's the weekly update! I've been writing so I always have a few chapters in store but recently have been having a Writer's Block. It'll lift after a little, I promise. Our first look at Sabertooth, so this'll be fun~**

**Thanks for reading!**

* * *

_She was at the beach, the cerulean waves lapping at her feet as she stood on the soft white sand, her feet sinking into the ground with a pool of water surrounding them. She inhaled: the air was peaceful and tranquil, with the tiniest tinge of salt wafting around her. _

_The sound of the ocean was the only thing that she could hear, the waves crashing and breaking as they hit the shoreline. The Sun was high overhead, slightly to the West side, signaling that it was close to noon. A few clouds were in the blue sky that was the color of pale blue detergent, and slowly the wind made them edge closer and closer to where she was standing. _

_Everything was perfect._

_At these moments, she wondered where her sister was. Was she looking up at the same sky like Ava was? Or had she had been gone, disappeared from their world already?_

_When they were younger, their parents would bring them to the seashore like this on little trips, and they would always stay in a nice white cottage that smelled like whitewash and was directly next to the ocean. Ava wondered if it was still there._

_Just as she was reminiscing her past, a voice had called out to her, startling her out of her thoughts. "Heh, never expected to meet Fairy Tail's, or should I say now Blue Pegasus's, Golden Mage in a small sleepy town like this."_

_She turned to face the person who had spoken, and met electric blue eyes as she gave him a small smirk. "Fancy meeting you here. I've heard of you, Sting: one of the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth." The blonde haired mage smirked._

"_Yep, that's me. Sorry to say that I'm not too surprised that you know me."_

"_You know, kiddo…" The blonde mage twitched as the girl leered at him, her amber eyes narrowed. "Arrogance is a very unsightly trait."_

"_But one needs confidence if he should succeed in life." Another voice resounded from Ava's left, and her mouth twitched as she wasn't sure if she should feel honored, surprised, or flat out annoyed as she turned to meet the obsidian eyes of Rogue, another Dragon Slayer in Sabertooth._

"_True enough, dearest." She shrugged, basking in the fact that Rogue's eyebrow twitched for a moment before he smoothed his ex__pression to hide any annoyance._

"_I can't understand why…" And Ava's attention was caught as Sting nearly growled in frustration as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair. "Why would you join _Blue Pegasus _of all guilds when you had so many better options?"_

"_Like Sabertooth?" She raised an eyebrow at him._

"_Exactly. We're the best in Fiore: Fairy Tail's no more, and we all know it." Ava did not flinch at his words, although her eyes flashed with some kind of emotion that had swelled up in her chest. Sting continued, plowing through his rant. "So why, why do you pick one of the more weaker guilds that completely pale in comparison to Sabertooth even though our Master even invited you to join?"_

"_Such a kid." The boy twitched again, and even Rogue withheld a smile as he stopped Lector and Frosch from stepping in. _

"_It's simple: _your _guild's beliefs don't fit with _my _morals." Ava hummed, although a small stab of hurt hit her as she looked at Sting and saw salmon pink hair instead. They really were too similar. "Fairy Tail's beliefs were focused on the bonds of camaraderie, and the willing to do anything for those close to you. My personal beliefs are quite similar to those, although I might not go as extreme as the guild once did. Its morals can be perceived as a little naive depending on the person. Sabertooth however…"_

_Her eyes darkened. "It has no light. It is running on pure power alone, but that much won't take the guild very far."_

"_We've been doing fine for the past few years." Sting fired back, Lector nodding resolutely behind his master._

"_But you will inevidently fall to a guild that has both emotions _and _power. Emotions make you strong, not weak." A sudden grin founds its way on her face as she bounced upwards, thinking that her team was probably waiting for her in the town, and must have been getting worried by this time. _

"_Well, that's what I think, at least. Everyone has their own set of morals. I really need to leave now, so adieu!" As she began walking back into town, she paused for a moment and turned around, her copper eyes glinting. "It's been a pleasure talking to you, kiddos. I'm sure we'll meet again."_

"_We'd better…" Sting muttered as the girl walked away, and he turned to face the sea, mumbling nearly inaudibly as he still felt his cheeks aflame from her various comments, "I don't get what's so good about her anyways…"_

* * *

Despite popular belief that Blue Pegasus solely focused on looks with a little touch in magic, the guild was anything but that. They might not be as competitive as other guilds (say, Sabertooth), but they prided themselves in making it in the top four every year, and that was even without their strongest members entering the fray.

Several rumors began to fly that Jura and Lyon were entering this year to represent Lamia Scale, and that in turn prompted other guilds to bring their strongest into the games. Not to mention, an unknown factor would come into play this year: Fairy Tail's core members' return.

So, with the pressure upon them, the Trimens began training furiously. Hibiki had been the one to come up with the idea to train up in the mountains, although several other factors had obviously contributed to the decision.

That was why now Ava, Eve, Hibiki, Ren, and Ichiya were all squished into one train cabin: Ava sitting between Eve and Ren, and Hibiki sitting next to Ichiya in the team leader's sparkly glory. At the moment, Ava and Eve were asleep, the two youngest mages leaning against one another's shoulders as Ren sat uncomfortably next to them. He crossed his hands over his chest and sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

Ava suddenly mumbled something in her sleep and leaned her head against his shoulder, Hibiki raising an eyebrow at Ren to which the Air Mage blushed and hissed, "Don't. Say. A. Word."

His blonde teammate gave him a devious smile, pulling something out of his bag and with horrified surprise Ren realized it was a Camera Lacrima, and with a flash of light Hibiki gave him a triumphant smile before slipping the Lacrima back into his bag.

Ren wondered if his teammate could hear his silent death threats.

* * *

"Eve, wake up." Ava shook his shoulders gently, rubbing her own sleepy eyes herself as she nearly yawned, turning around to face her other teammates. "I think he needs more sleep."

"Of course, me-" Ichiya's proclamation was cut off by Hibiki stuffing his hand over the man's mouth, bringing his other finger to his lips in a hushing motion as the orange haired man pouted, sparkles emanating from him.

"In the meanwhile, Ichiya-sama, you should probably get your rest too." Hibiki gave him a bright smile that sent shivers down Ava's spine as she felt a bad premonition as if her teammate was about to do something evil as the Information-Mage turned to her, grinning brightly. "Ava-chan, would you like to see some of the pictures I've captured of Re-" He was cut off by the desperate figure of Ren _literally_ jumping up and leaping across the train cabin to shut his mouth, hissing something in the blonde's ear that Ava couldn't catch as she tilted her head confusedly.

"D-don't worry about it Ava-chan, I'll show you them later." Hibiki shivered as he watched Ren's malicious aura intense for a second before residing warily.

"Okay…" Ava sweatdropped. She craned her head to look at Ren, but the Air Mage was perfectly normal as he shot her a bright smile and shook his head as if to say '_it's nothing'_. Ava shrugged and just attributed it to her teammates being weird again: weirdness was a common occurrence in the magical world no matter where she went, she concluded.

Suddenly brightening, her amber eyes glowed as she nearly pressed herself against the window. "I think we're almost here!" And true enough, as soon as those words left her mouth, the train began to slow down as an announcement came over the loudspeakers that they were about to arrive at the last station.

**O_O**

Several minutes later, the Trimens were left at the station platform, their luggage in hand or on the ground as the train gave off a loud noise before taking off again, heading back towards civilization. They were left at the base of a giant mountain, Lania, and according to the locals Ava had interviewed the only way to get up there to secluded training grounds was by hiking up the treacherous paths. Her shoulders slumped at the thought of hiking as she stretched her legs that were slightly stiff from the long train ride.

"Well, Ren, I don't suppose you can just _lift_ us and our luggage all the way up there, can you?" She mused, and the black-haired man gave a shake of his head, saying something about how it was too heavy and too high, plus the fact that they were there for training. She sighed before suddenly perking up, turning to her teammate. "Can you transport _just_ the luggage and yourself and Ichiya-san up to the training grounds? I already booked a stay at the inn there for the next two months." The last month before the Grand Magic Games would just be relaxation back at the guild and the journey to Magnolia, Master Bob saying something about how it would be bad if they didn't make it back for the Preliminary Rounds and plus they needed to relax after their intense training.

Ren nodded. "I can do that, but will you guys be fine?"

"We'll be fine." Hibiki's mouth twitched upwards. "After all, that is quite logical. Out of all of us, Ren is most equipped to these kinds of things and we need someone to guard the luggage, plus the luggage would slow us down. Ichiya-sama has obviously already mastered these sort of things, and frankly, Ren can't go alone. Everyone, give your baggage to Ren. This will be good practice for him to sustain his magic for a long time as well. Ren, your thoughts?"

"I can manage. Just make sure not to get caught up by mountain bandits or anything like that." Ren slung their bags over his shoulder, carrying the luggages in his other hands as he concentrated his magic so air swirled around the general area of him, Ichiya, and the luggages. "See ya." And with that, the mage was gone.

"Okay, boys, let's go!" Ava cheered, Hibiki and Eve pumping up their fists and cheering in much less excitement than the girl as they began trudging their way towards the mountain. "Hooray…"

As they travelled along the rocky and dense forage, following the path that winded up the mountain, they did so in silence, each team member contemplating their own thoughts. Ava was thinking about Team Natsu, and how they were most likely training furiously at the moment (the assumption was _definitely_ off, but she didn't know that). Eve was wondering how the forest could be so thick, and who made the paths (an honest question, but unanswerable for the locals had told them the paths had been there as long as they could remember). Hibiki was contemplating what the chances were of being attacked, when suddenly his eyes narrowed and he cursed Ren for jinxing it (although he might have been guilty a little himself).

"Ava, Eve." He whispered, and both were jolted out of their thoughts, but before Hibiki could give them any more warning the bandits that were hiding in the trees had jumped down, and the world had turned into a frenzy of _jump, dodge, kick, punch._

Ava cursed as she narrowly dodged an attack from the cutlass of one of the thugs (really, what was with all these cliche scenarios?), running so she could face back-to-back with her teammates as she gave them a cursory glance to make sure neither had been majorly hurt before focusing on the battle. Eve would be fine, but Hibiki was more suited to battle of wits than actually hand-to-hand combat.

Her hands instinctively moved to her side where her bag of scrolls usually was when she cursed again, realizing that she had given it to Ren when he had taken off to the mountain.

...

...

This was not good.

She would have to resort to the harder, more dangerous way to use her magic: without equipment, and singularly using her body to create seals.

Ava turned to face the thugs, her hands inconspicuously moving from side to side as she began forming a complex array of seals in the air, the pattern glowing for a second before the bandit in front of her began having his magic to deplete. The man seemed to realize what was happening and he cursed, warning his comrades before he was completely trapped by a cage of vines.

Ava blinked. "This is a useful kind of magic. I should seal it in one of my scrolls later."

"What did you just do to our leader?" One of the more bold members of the thieves piped up, and Ava's eyes saddened when she realized that the person was no more than a boy, and he had to live in this kind of lifestyle.

"I stored his magic in air, unsealed it so it wouldn't be stored in the air, and attacked him with it, effectively 'reflecting' it if you want to think about it that way." What they _didn't_ know was that she couldn't store magic in versatile objects like that for very long, but Ava excluded that little tidbit of information as she grinned as several of the men stepped back, looking a little intimidated. Hibiki, however, shared a glance with her as she smiled innocently at him. _Never hurts to tell a tiny white lie here and there._

Within a few moments, their team wrapped up the battle, Eve creating an ice prison to keep all the thieves locked up as the group of bandits tried to break it with no avail. "Done," he said somewhat triumphantly as he ran a hand through his now messy blonde hair, frowning slightly at his disheveled look.

All three of them jumped when they suddenly heard a low, but distinctively feminine, voice say, "Whoa, what happened here?"

Immediately, they turned and tensed, ready to meet the next challenge, but to their surprise they met familiar chocolate brown eyes, along with several other familiar faces. "Cana, Elfman, Lisanna, and Mira?" Ava identified each of the people standing stunned across the clearing.

"Hi!" Mira waved, seemingly the first to recover from the sight of the Trimens (or at least the remainder of them) standing over a group of fallen bandits. It was probably because she had done the same many times before.

"Yo." Elfman nodded at her acknowledgingly, his hands crossed over his muscular chest.

"It's nice to see you again, Ava-san." Lisanna bowed. Ava had only been 13 when the girl had 'died', and despite that by that time she had been in the guild for nearly 3 years she seldom talked to the younger Strauss. Maybe she _should_ start talking to Lisanna more: the girl seemed the most level-headed one of the group (Mira didn't really count considering what she was back _then_).

"What's up~" Cana took a sip of her drink, the least surprised of their chance meeting.

"Why are you all here?" Hibiki asked, voicing all of their thoughts.

"Well, after the whole debate on who would be the people competing in the Grand Magic Games the guild had, we decided that we'd all go and train in smaller groups at different places and come back to see who was stronger." Cana stretched her legs, holding a flask of whiskey in her right hand and taking a sip. "We decided to head to the mountains."

"Laxus's team went somewhere else too, and Natsu's team, minus Gajeel who wanted to go and do some secret training, headed to the beach." Lisanna piped up, the petite white-haired girl smiling at them kindly just as her sister did. "We've booked a stay here and we were walking up the mountain when we heard the commotion, but by the time we got here it seems like you all took care of it."

"Thank you for worrying about us." Hibiki and Eve were on her in an instant, telling Lisanna that did she know that she looked absolutely stunning today, especially with that hairstyle? And did she know that she looked more beautiful than ever before?

During all of this, Ava sighed as she wondered why she ever thought they had grown more mature after a long talk about how flirting ruined team dynamics, gazing up at the sky with eyes narrowed as if to ask '_why me?'_.

It was going to be a _long_ 2 months.

* * *

**A/N: How was it? Not much action-well, plot-in this chapter, but I just want to get on with it because I have so much stuff planned for the GMG. Mwahahaha...**

**And sad to say I'm not doing the Key of the Starry Sky arc, mainly because there's no reason for Blue Pegasus to show up there and it would just looked forced. So...yeah. Shame, I somewhat liked that arc.**

**Anyways, I have a lot of nice ship/friendship moments ahead and complete humiliation for Lyon. But that's not new.**

**Thank you so much for all the reviews/favorites/follows/reads! I think last chapter had the best stats yet (looks at the Gray-Juvia-Lyon-Ava moment...I wonder why?). I feel really happy~ ^_^**

**So I was thinking I should do those question-of-the-chapter things for fun, so despite I put descriptions of characters I know everyone likes to imagine their own thing...**

**Q: What do you imagine Ava to look like?**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Pfft...prepare for shippyness~ Sorry there's no Lyon this chapter but I promise he'll come up soon. In the meantime, enjoy the Trimens. :)**

* * *

"_Oi! What the hell were you doing?" Gray grabbed his black haired teammate, the girl swinging around bewilderedly to stare at him with confused amber eyes. They had finally retired for the night after a brutal mission-Team Natsu's missions always somehow managed to get out of control-taking care of a corrupt 'charity' group of mages who had been keeping the money they were given to themselves._

_On normal circumstances, Gray would have opted to do nothing but lay in bed or sit in the particularly inviting looking plush violet chair to the left of the room, but frankly he was too pissed off to think._

_Ava took a shaky breath, closing her eyes and calming herself before opening them as she said calmly, "What do you mean?"_

"_You know _exactly _what I mean! What was with that stunt you pulled during the battle?"_

"_I was just trying to help-"_

"_Trying to help, my ass! You would have gotten killed had not Natsu arrived at the last second!" His eyes flashed furiously._

_During the day, the team had split up into small groups: Erza and Lucy, Natsu and Happy, and Gray and Ava to look for their targets. It had just been their rotten luck that Gray and Ava had encountered the group of mages when they had been completely caught off guard and unprepared, and thus they had no time to call for backup as they were thrust into a battle._

_Of course, Gray couldn't take on a group of mages all by himself. At least, he couldn't solo the one they had encountered because the group had been particularly a Fire-Mage based group for some unknown and inconvenient reason, so they had been separated from the battle._

_Gray had just about finished up when he felt a surge of magic and turned to see with horror Ava pinned down to the ground by two mages with another two mages aiming at her with their weapons. He was too far away to do anything, and by the looks of it his teammate had said something to enrage their enemies even further._

_Had it not been for Natsu-thank goodness for his always barely-on-time entrance: if he had not come a second sooner his teammate's head might have been chopped off-intervening, Ava could have _died_._

_That realization had struck Gray inside the chest, and he acknowledged the fact that he did not _want _his teammate to leave._

_He continued plowing through his rant._

"_Huh? You're surrounded by enemies, hopelessly outnumbered, and the next thing you do is taunt them further? And you're always the one who calls Flame Brain stupid!" He snarled, and even though he knew his anger was slightly misdirected, Gray couldn't stop until he noticed the silence._

_Ava, as far as he knew, was never silent whenever put down. He turned to see his teammate with her head hung down as she played with her fingers guiltily and he felt his anger slightly subside as he calmed down._

_She finally lifted her head, resolve flashing through her eyes. "...Gray, I'm sorry that I worried you."_

_That statement took him aback. He was...worried? But he just felt that he didn't want her to be in that kind of situation again, that he wanted to _protect _her, to-_

_He wanted to groan at his own thoughts. How cliche. How lame. He was acting like a perfectly lovestr-_

_Gray stopped his thought process. He was _not _going down that lane again. He had already been over it many times: Ava was fifteen and he was nineteen. He could not like her, at least not in that way. They were like siblings: always teasing and taunting each other but with understanding always about the other person._

"_...I won't do something stupid like that again, but don't expect me to not step in if my friends are in trouble. That's just not how I am."_

_He found his voice again, and Gray shoved his hands in his pockets as he leaned back and sighed. "I know." A smirk tugged at his lips as he added, "After all, you wouldn't be Ava if you didn't do something stupid every once in a while."_

"_Hey!" She protested, but was quickly cut off by her teammate as he put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer as he watched her, eyes serious._

"_But seriously, don't do that again."_

_She stood silent a moment, the two too close for comfort as their faces nearly touched. Finally, Gray seemed to realize what he was doing as he jumped, face completely red, backwards and nearly bumped into the wall._

"_S-sorry." He stuttered, and that action in itself being so out of character she momentarily blinked before smiling, highly aware of her own blush that was starting to spread across her cheeks._

"_It's okay." She had barely enough time to finish her sentence before the door opened and an annoyed Natsu called,_

"_Oi! Are you done with your lover's spat now so we can come inside?"_

_This promptly led to his two angry teammates-both with completely red faces-punching him in the face and leaving a bruise that would last for a long while. When asked about it when returning back to the guild, the pinkette would only stubbornly reply,_

"_It was caused by two idiots who are too much in denial to realize their own feelings."_

* * *

It was evening, and the Sun was setting as the stars began to ascend to their place in the sky as night began to come upon them, the once-light blue sky now a dark black. Ava exhaled, using her right arm to wipe the sweat off of her forehead as she stood up firmly, her knees wobbling a little from the motion. "Again."

"Ava, we both know that you can't handle this training yet. Maybe we should bring it down a notch-"

"No," she interrupted Ren, eyes firm. "Face me again. I can do this."

"You're in no shape to-!"  
"Ren, again." Her amber eyes seemed to pierce through him and he sighed, running a shaking hand through his matted black hair, muttering something about stubborn women and Fairy Tail. But despite his reluctance, the man bent down into a fighting stance, and quickly flew toward her, fists extended. She retaliated, moving to the left and swiping a quick jab at his ribs, to which he dodged with ease as Air Magic flew towards her in the form of a mini-tornado. "_Aerial Phose!"_

She moved to the right, her feet moving in several different patterns as she began to draw lines in the earth. Ren grunted. "_Aerial Shot!"_

Several rocks were picked up from just the mere speed and force of the Air Magic as they all flew towards her, and her hands moved to form a complicated array in the air as she drew a triangle in the middle. "_Reflection!"_ The rocks that were flying towards her flew into the seal as the pattern glowed for a moment before releasing the rocks back at Ren, to which the Air Mage moved like a panther as he started closing up the distance between him and his teammate.

"You're getting better," he complimented, a gust of Air Magic flying towards her as she ducked and swerved to the left, her body tensing and moving at an angle to avoid his punch. He frowned. "I really don't want to hurt a woman-"

"You've been saying that this whole time, and I've still kept going. Deal with it." Her hands moved, activating a seal and murmuring, "_Magic Dome!" _at the same time he lifted his arm and shouted, "_Aerial!"_

Both were enclosed by domes. Ren was surrounded by a bunch of glowing purple arrays that stole his magic whenever he moved, and he had to let out an impressed whistle as Ava glanced around at the translucent dome around her, her ears already hurting from the pressure change Ren had caused thanks to the drop in oxygen. Neither were ready to give, although both panted heavily as they stared at one another. Finally, Ava raised a hand and dispelled the runes, and in turn he dispelled the Air Magic that enclosed her.

They both turned to stare at each other for a moment before literally plopping to the floor, spreading their arms and legs on the grass as they breathed heavily. "That...was...rewarding…" Ava panted, wiping the sweat off of her face with her right arm as she felt the grass prick at her backside and moved slightly to adjust.

"...cool...new...spell…"

"You're... on the brink of...exhaustion... and you're...complimenting me?" Ava threw up her head in the wind and laughed, her hair flying as it got tossed by the wind, the simple movement causing pain.

"As always, sweetheart..."

"Hmm…" Ava stared up at the stars, which were by then high up into the sky and twinkling like a sea of gemstones. The moonlight shone on her face, illuminating the clearing that they were training at with soft celestial light. As they laid there, side by side, uninterrupted in that silent moment of peace and harmony, Ava smiled.

…

…

…

...and then the moment was ruined by the arrival of her other teammates.

"Ichiya-sama, I'm telling you that the perfume you're working on won't be as affecti-AVA! REN!" Hibiki stopped, looking horrified before glaring at his other male teammate he had left in charge of Ava's training. "_Ren!_ Why does Ava have so many bruises?"  
"Shit," Ren cursed under his breath as the girl next to him simply giggled, not saying anything to deny the question and silent accusation.

"Ren-san's flirting with _nee-chan_~" Eve sang.

"How unmanly, _men!"_

Watching Hibiki and Ren squabble over her well being, Eve laugh merrily, and Ichiya mumble something about the perfume of his team, a smile wormed its way on her face. They weren't the best team, but…

...they were _her _team.

* * *

"You know, I never expected for _you_ of all people to quit the guild, Ava-chan." Mirajane smiled as they relaxed in the natural hot springs Cana had found earlier in the day, steam rising into the air and fading into the night.

So they were going to have _this_ conversation, eh? Two could play at that game. Her eyes sharpened as she gave a nonchalant roll of her shoulders. "I needed adventure."

"Or so you say?"

"People change, Mira-san. I can't really explain it."

"Why?" That one question nearly took Ava's breath away as she paused, her amber eyes glinting in the moonlight as she fiddled with her midnight black hair, considering how she should phrase her answer.

"I was...afraid. I didn't want the past to keep haunting me, so I thought that if I travelled far enough, I could forget about it. But really...I was just running away from the past." Ava's mouth twitched as her mouth slowly moved to form a grin. "But then Eve found me, and the Trimens helped pick me up again. I know they might not be the best, or most serious of people, but they have their moments Mira. They mean...a lot to me."

"I see." Mirajane gave her a small smile as she turned to look at the stars. "You know, I was sort of worried. I knew Hibiki-kun and everyone from a while ago when I was in the modelling career, and I knew how often they played with girls' hearts. But when I actually saw them with you, Ava, I was glad. It seems like they're serious about being your _nakama._"

"Thanks for worrying about me, Mira." Ava stared at the rocks, sinking into the water as she let her black hair float in different directions as she slumped against the rocks. "I think...I think I'll be fine."

It remained silent for a moment, the only sounds in the background being the quiet creaks of the crickets.  
"Heh, of course!" Mirajane beamed, and suddenly the atmosphere changed to a light one once more. "After all, you're surrounded by a bunch of handsome young men! Any girl would die to be in your place." The statement strangely reminded Ava of DeZille, who was currently on a mission with her "not-as-hot" teammates according to the giggly girl.

Mirajane moved so she sat next to Ava, water trickling from her white hair as she clutched her bath towel to her chest. "You know," Mirajane's blue eyes turned soft. "I see all of the girls at Fairy Tail to be something like my little sister. Even after Lisanna came back, and she's still my sister just as much as you all are. You're no exception Ava, even if you're not part of our guild anymore. You shouldn't really worry about it, okay?"  
"Really?"

"Of course."

* * *

The next day, all the members of the Blue Pegasus team, minus Ichiya who went off to do some special training by himself ("You all will be fine, _men_~" he had sparkled) were gathered around a training schedule Hibiki had concocted himself to get them ready for the Grand Magic Games. "This...this frankly looks like a training list from Hell." Ren looked at the page of exercises warily, Hibiki giving his teammate the brightest smile he had as Eve peered over his shoulder. Ren _swore_ that he thought his teammate was a sadist and just acted completely fake around women and only showed his true colors around their team.

"It's all for the sake of the guild!"

"And why does she get easier stuff?" Ren pointed at Ava, who was sifting through her training list. In normal circumstances, the Air Mage would have been perfectly fine shouldering the 'men's work', but right now he was too pissed off at Hibiki to do anything else.

"Because she's a woman~"  
"You know I can hear you," Ava said annoyedly. "And I refuse to train anything less than all of you, despite my gender. We're all representing Blue Pegasus in the end, anyways, right?"

"But Ava, we don't want those delicate hands of yours gathering blisters-" Hibiki's flirtatious statement (coupled with the suggestive eyes and pose) was cut off by Ava holding up her hands, examining them (bruises, blisters, and cuts still present from Ren and her training session from the other day) and saying, "Too late for that."

"Wahh, _nee-chan,_ you should take care of yourself more!" Eve was all over her, grabbing his first aid kit as he looked at her blistered and cut hands. "What did you do to kill your complexion like this?"

"Blame Ren's _Aerial Shot_." Ava shrugged as her teammates once again glared at Ren, the tanned boy shooting Ava a look like _I'll get you back later_ as he was assaulted by various comments of 'how dare you ruin a pure maiden's complexion with dirty rocks!'.

Ava couldn't help but smirk as she chided her teammates, Ren sighing in relief although he couldn't help but note that she had waited a few moments for the boys to scold him before interfering. "Let's start training some more."

**O_O**

A few hours later, they were _all_ on the ground, panting and utterly exhausted as Ren complained about smelling so sweaty. The other three members of his team glared at him, even Eve, who had been too tired to even try to act sweet.

"Ren-san, this is _not_ the time." Eve panted.

"But I'm wearing my new suit." Ren gestured at his velvet black suit, coupled with an overly-expensive white shirt worn underneath.

"Who wears a suit in the mountains during the Summer anyways?!" All three of them chorused accusingly.

"Me."

"..." They all turned away from their tanned teammate, instead looking at each other and nodding in understanding as they exchanged looks. "He's a lost cause."

"Oi!"

"There you are, _men~_" Ichiya sparkled. "I had smelled the perfume of your rigorous training and had come here! I shall help our team train, so we can truly become manly!"

"Ichiya-san..with all to respect, I _am_ a girl." Her teammate would get along well with Elfman, she was suddenly struck with the thought and shuddered at the mental image.

"Even women can be manly, _men!"_

"...I'm not sure who's worse, Ren or you, Ichiya-san." Ava deadpanned, Eve and Hibiki nodding as Ren let out another protest that fell on deaf ears.

* * *

**A/N:**** Have I ever mentioned how much I love you people? Your encouragement was the thing that made me write more...**

**Anyways, I love torturing Ren using Hibiki. Hibiki's just awesome and Ren gives me all the right reactions. I feel like I'm neglecting Eve so I'll probably write more of him later. And Ichiya's always there when we need him~**

**Plot's coming soon. If you've noticed, I dislike writing canon chapters because it's troublesome and the guys sound so lame in it (Ren literally said "I am a user of Air Magic." for the readers and I was totally ready to facepalm -_-). It's getting there, although there might be a subplot that'll tie in the GMG arc.**

**This story's influencing my everyday life too much. I listen to a Nico Nico version of _Magnet_ (you know, the Vocaloid song?) and imagine Lyon and Gray. Nosebleed.**

**I started a OC submission fanfic. If you guys would like, check it out~ I'd love to see what all of you would come up with.**

**Anyways, thank you for all the reviews/favorites/follows/reads!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: This is a ****special** **chapter that is totally ****unrelated to the plot ****but simply here because I love Edolas. Also for me to have time to write the other chapters (I've written the next few but want to keep writing. When summer vacation comes I'll post more often hopefully).**

**Sorry for not updating last week, I was sort of busy. ^_^;**

**Note the first part is 3rd person, Lucy Ashley POV. Any **_**Ava**_**s are referring to Edolas Ava, and our Ava will be referred to as Earthland Ava.**

**Assuming that Edolas and Earthland's time flow the same (which probably is the case considering Lisanna's age matching up to the time she missed in Earthland), everyone in Edolas should be older. From this, I feel that Edo-Ava would be a lot more immature simply because in this world she had Team Natsu to rely on while Earthland Ava had the whole Tenroujima incident which made her more mature. So that's my reasoning behind Edo-Ava's personality.**

**This is literally Lyon/Ava and Gray/Ava fanservice with a dash of EdoLucy/EdoNatsu. XD**

**I swear that I made Edo-Ava a total sempai-obsessed yandere. She'll get better.**

**Thanks for reading~**

* * *

Lucy Ashley, in all her blonde glory, groaned wearily as she stretched her limbs before giving a sigh, crossing her legs as she played with her golden locks, her feet spread out wide as she sat on a wooden table. "Oi, Gray, what are you doing?"

"I'm following Juvia~" The heavily clothed man sighed dreamily as his eyes suddenly narrowed, his expression turning stormy. "I can't believe that she agreed to go on a date with _Lyon_ of all people!"

"Well, he _did_ honestly ask her out and unlike you she actually likes him." Lucy stated bluntly, the man's aura turning gloomy as he sulked in a corner. That statement was sort of a lie: the man was just as weird as Gray was, and according to Juvia she had gone out with him because she 'felt sorry for him'. Lucy bet that they wouldn't even last a fortnight. "Why don't you just ask Ava out then?"

The man shuddered as he thought of his guildmate. "Never, I'll stay loyal to Juvia-chan forever!" Fire lit up in his eyes as he pumped his fist, although his eyes darted nervously to his black haired teammate who was sitting down on a wooden bench until that moment.

Ava's amber eyes teared up, her cute black pigtails swinging as she asked with a trembling voice, "G-Gray-sempai, you don't like me?" She looked like she was about to start wailing and crying as all the males of Fairy Tail glared at Gray, and the man quickly shook his head. Ava _was_ after all the guild's lolita girl, and brought a lot of jobs to the guild just because of her cute appearance. Although her cute appearance made her look _seemingly_ innocent, Lucy and Gray were wise to know that behind the kind exterior was a true manipulative demon to behold.

"O-of course not!" Gray panicked, holding up his hands.

Before they could continue, the doors of the strange shaped guild were thrown open courtesy one red head. All of Fairy Tail was in a panic as they realized that _Erza Knightwalker_ of all people were in their guild, running away as Lucy stood up, barely noticing Ava flinging herself on Gray, crying, "Gray-sempai, save me!"

"What the hell do you want? The whole Earthland debacle is over and I thought we agreed to have peace." Lucy scowled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ah, that's not it…" Erza Knightwalker's eyes looked down guiltily for a moment before she nodded firmly and looked at Lucy eye-to-eye. After her counterpart had beaten her, Erza had gotten...kinder, if that was even possible, Lucy noted. Although she supposed that her counterpart and Earthland Natsu had softened herself as well. "Jellal-sama wanted you guys to watch this girl. Apparently she's from Earthland."

She moved to reveal a woman with short black hair, and Lucy's eyes couldn't help but widen as she couldn't withhold a scoff as she turned to see how Gray and Ava were taking it. The short, petite black haired girl's eyes had also widened as she realized who Erza had brought, and Gray was simply open mouthed.

...

...

...

"Hi. I'm Ava Lucioni, or at least the Ava Lucioni from Earthland. I was in the crystal most of the time when the rest of my guildmates were here, so I'm afraid I haven't really met you all. It's a pleasure." The woman drawled, a slightly bored expression on her face as her eyes scanned the guild before a small smile tugged on her face.

Lucy's brown eyes narrowed. "We closed the opening between Earthland and Edolas. How could you get here? It's been _years_ since we've last had any of you guys here."

Earthland Ava shrugged. "I was practicing with my team when a Rune appeared, and then I suddenly was teleported to Edolas's royal chambers. Mystogan-sorry, I mean Edolas Jellal, wasn't very inclined to let me stay in the palace and felt I would feel more comfortable with you all. My friends are probably either panicking or working on getting me back right now, so you shouldn't worry too much."

Stepping inside the guild, her eyes landed on her Edolas counterpart and Earthland Ava suddenly smiled. "So this is me? Heh, I never had to deal with _this_ kind of situation before."

"N-nice to meet you, Ava-san." Ava played with her fingers nervously as her other and admittedly more confident self bent down to pat the girl on the head.

"It seems like there's a big personality difference," Natsu, who had been silent the whole time, observed. Lucy was slightly surprised the shy man even decided to spoke up, but then she remembered that despite his...cowardly side, Natsu could be strong when he wanted to be. Turning to Earthland Ava, he asked, his eyes darting around a little nervously as he played with his fingers. "How's my Earthland counterpart?"

"Ehehehe, well, you see they sort of got caught in a time stopping spell and-" Earthland Ava rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as she went on to explain that _yes_, now they were officially 7 years older than their counterparts if their counterparts had been at Tenroujima and _yes_, they were doing fine and were just as lively as ever.

It was strange, really, and Lucy was sure she was not the only one surprised at Earthland Ava's appearance. It was like Wendy's counterpart all over again except the other way around.

It seemed like Gray was taking it quite harshly, looking back and forth from Ava and Earthland Ava. Earthland Ava turned to Gray, her eyes widening with surprise before a snicker left her lips. "You look so lame, Gray!"

Lucy swore every jaw in Fairy Tail dropped at those words as Ava looked faintly insulted. "Gray-sempai looks amazing!"

"What's with all those layers of clothes?" Earthland Ava drew closer, poking his jackets cautiously as Gray looked simply stupefied.

"He gets cold easily," Lucy explained for her guildmate as she rolled her eyes, recalling that Earthland Gray had been the exact opposite. She wondered if their Gray would look like that if he took off all his clothing: maybe then Juvia might fall for him like Earthland Juvia had fallen for Earthland Gray.

"Interesting. Yo, I'm Ava. I was your counterpart's teammate for a few years, but now I'm part of Blue Pegasus although I do meet your counterpart and other teams like Lyon's sometimes…" Thinking about that, Earthland Ava couldn't help but wonder how she always managed to meet other teams on her missions. It was like some god out there _wanted_ her to have a dramatic life.

"You look...nice…" Gray stammered as Ava wailed behind him 'sempai, notice me~', his eyes staring at only Earthland Ava as the woman gave him a bright smile that made her look more like her counterpart, a small blush spreading over her face as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. An alarm bell rang in Lucy's head as the woman suddenly gave him a devilish smirk, her eyes sparkling mischievously as she sensed Gray's nervousness around her. It seemed like the manipulative side of Ava hadn't changed between the two worlds.

"Thanks! Gray rarely compliments me nowadays."

"Wait...did you mention Lyon?" Natsu, who had been silent and working on his new idea of how to fuel his car (Lucy had been helping with that: the pinkette had been completely devastated after his car stopped working because it ran on Magic Lacrima) asked.

"Yep! He's one of my closest friends." All of Fairy Tail fell silent as Lucy recalled the many times when Ava had nearly beaten Lyon to death for insulting her dear Gray-sempai. Seeing Lyon all beaten up afterwards was definitely _not_ the best sight in the world. Usually the two got along and were like siblings, but if Lyon dared speak wrong of Gray...well, that was a different story for another time.

"Actually, he's heading here right now to pick up Juvia for a date." Lucy remarked as Earthland Ava's golden eyes widened with shock as she managed a 'w-what?'.

"Ah! That's right! My dear Juvia-sama's date!" Gray pumped his fist in the air, fire in his eyes once more. "I must crash it."

"I'll join you," Earthland Ava said grimly as Lucy wondered what kind of relationship she had with Earthland Lyon.

* * *

(Edolas Ava POV)

Ava stared in simple amazement as her counterpart began laughing and talking with Gray as if they had been best buddies forever. The short, petite girl had always tried to get close to her idol with no avail, and her attempts at getting closer to Gray had always backfired and he became even more wary of her.

She was the epitome of cute, with a small, petite stature, beautiful golden eyes, and long black hair usually tied in her signature two ponytails. She usually used her appearance to her advantage to manipulate people, but it seemed like her counterpart was similar as Earthland Ava teased Gray about his constant staring of her (sempai was _not_ staring at her! He was simply...surprised at her counterpart's appearance!).

Ava was very good at convincing herself about certain things.

Gray would be her knight for sure: he was perfect! Beautiful obsidian eyes, perfect hair, and a sexy voice...perfect! Not to mention he was super hot when he wasn't wearing all those clothes (Ava obviously didn't know that because of that one hotsprings trip...definitely…)

"Gray-sempai, why are we stalking Juvia-chan and Lyon-kun's date?" Ava asked innocently, her eyes sparkling with intelligence although she gave him the look of a child, pouting and all.

"Because we are going to _stop_ them if Lyon dares to try to touch Juvia-sama!" Gray growled at the same time that Earthland Ava said, "Because Lyon's an idiot in both worlds if he thinks love at first sight actually happens."

Both Gray and Earthland Ava stared at each other for a moment, blushes evident on their faces as they realized they had a common goal and Ava couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy. No matter what she did, Gray always treated her like a creepy child (she couldn't deny the creepy part-ah, she meant child part, but did he _have_ to always scoot away when she was near?).

They both nodded in unison, understanding flickering through their eyes before they turned back to the scene of a certain bluenette and sky colored haired mage, who were at the moment standing fairly close to each other and chatting amicably.

Just then, Lyon leaned closer to Juvia as their hands reached for each other, but before either of them could do anything Ava's eyes flickered to see the hopeless look on Gray's face that she knew meant he knew it would be useless to interrupt them because Juvia would hate him even more. Ava could relate to that feeling: after all, she experienced it everyday herself with Gray.

She decided to put her personality and talents to best use, standing up from the bushes and strolling casually with an air of arrogance as she popped up between Juvia and Lyon just before they linked hands, missing the slightly(pleasantly) surprised look that came over Gray's face as her counterpart snickered and whispered, "After all, my counterpart and I _am_ quite similar in some ways."

"Juvia-chan! Lyon-kun! How are you doing?" Ava blinked innocently as Juvia shot her a slight glare. They didn't get along too well because of Ava's constant love of Gray despite Juvia's utter hate of him. Lyon shot her a kind look: he was sort of like the older brother Ava never had.

"Good. I'm on a date with Juvia-chan right now, so-" Lyon tried steering the couple out of the way, but Ava wouldn't have it. She would _not_ just stand around and let her Gray-sempai's love be taken right out of her grasp.

(If she had been thinking right she could have remembered that Lyon and Juvia hooking up was _good_, so Ava could hook up with Lyon, but she honestly felt that as long as her loved one felt happy she would be fine.)

Stepping out from the bushes and dusting her pants off casually as if she hadn't been doing anything incriminating, Earthland Ava offered a casual, "Hi. I just wanted to introduce myself to you two since I'll be staying in this world for a little. I'm Earthland's Ava Lucioni."

Lyon and Juvia seemed to size her up for a moment before they nodded in assent, and Ava's chest couldn't help but puff out proudly. She was beautiful, confident, and independent in both her world and the other.

"Marry me," Lyon suddenly zoomed over to Earthland Ava, his eyes sparkling as the black haired woman blinked for a few moments before her golden eyes widened and a slightly pink tint rose to her cheeks.

"W-what do you think you're doing?" The woman managed as Ava barged into their conversation, huffing slightly.

"Lyon-nii, stop being an idiot." Her counterpart sent her a thankful look as she ran a hurried hand through her messy black hair. She turned to Juvia, gritting her teeth a little as Ava said, "Juvia-chan, I'm _so_ sorry for myself interrupting your date! Gray-sempai and I didn't mean it, right Gray-sempai?"

Ava nudged Gray not-so-subtly as the man winced and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "That's right! But it seems like Lyon's left you for Earthland's Ava, Juvia-chan, so why don't you stay with m-"

He was sent a dry look by Juvia before she turned, letting out a 'hmph'. "Why would I go out with either of these losers anyways? I just felt sorry for Lyon-san."

Ava twitched, along with Earthland Ava. Her counterpart let out a sigh and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'less troublesome in my world' before Earthland Ava grabbed both Juvia and Lyon's hands. "Well, since I'm new to this world, can you two show me around?"

Earthland Ava dragged the two away from Ava and Gray, turning around for one moment as her amber eye winked at her counterpart before continuing on her merry way.

It was strange, to say the least.

Ava blushed as she realized she was left alone with Gray, and rubbed the back of her head nervously as she laughed. "Well, that was strange, right Gray-sempai?"

"Mm." Gray's eyes trailed her counterpart as Ava felt a pang of annoyance.

"Gray-sempai?"

"Mm." He still wasn't paying attention to her, his eyes somewhere far away and all that Ava wanted was for his eyes to be on _her_, for him to actually _look_ at her and notice her as an individual. She took a deep breath, inhaling before exhaling as she spoke heavily.

"Gray."

At the lack of honorifics the man finally looked up, and he flinched at what he saw. Ava...she wasn't teary eyed as she usually was whenever she wanted to manipulate the man for him to do things her way, even though he expected her to act like a spoiled child at this time. Instead, he saw her for what she was: a 22 year old woman who had a slight superiority complex, tapping her foot impatiently and scowling.

"Gray, why don't we head somewhere since we have some free time?" Ava gestured at the shops that surrounded him, smiling slightly as she tugged on the sleeve of his jacket, undoing her two pigtails as she let her black hair fall to her waist instead, making her look a lot more mature than she usually acted.

For the rest of the day, Gray was dragged around by Ava, the two entering numerous shops with the woman exiting the shops triumphantly as Gray was pulled down by the weight of all the bags of clothes she had chosen.

Of course, even though the man wouldn't ever admit it, it _was_ sort of fun. The way that Ava's eyes sparkled as she came out of the fitting room wearing a beautiful sunset orange dress that matched her eyes made Gray want to smile himself, and he had to admit the pure delight on her face when he had bought her a necklace had been adorable.

...he was sure that if he ever told his guildmate that, the woman would totally freak out and begin planning their wedding without a moment's notice. That was why he stayed quiet.

Finally, night time was arriving and they headed back to the guild, and as their arms moved to open the doors a blinding light nearly ruined Gray's vision as he covered his eyes, squinting through the cracks as he recognized a startled looking Earthland Ava staring down at her hands which were beginning to fade.

"Leaving already? Such a shame, I would have liked to hang out here for a little more…" She muttered as the woman shrugged. "Ah, well. Hibiki and the others are probably waiting."

She turned, meeting her counterpart's eyes as she grinned, and Ava smiled back at her as they shook hands, Earthland Ava leaning in and whispering something into Ava's ear that made the girl flush a serious shade of red as she nodded, her eyes a little teary as she whispered, "Thank you."

The woman gave her another warm smile as she gave an acknowledging nod to everyone else, saluting mockingly as she bowed. "Thank you for having me."

And with that, their unexpected visitor was gone.

.

.

"_I'm not giving up right now, so you don't give up either. Understand? Heh, you'll be wonderful someday. I know you will."_

* * *

**A/N: Again, sorry for not updating last week. I hope you enjoyed this special chapter~**


	12. Chapter 12

_"There you are."_

_The little girl sniffed, running into her twin's arms as she cried, frantically waving her hands all over the place. "Mia! I was so scared!"_

_"What kind of idiot would get them lost into a mall?" Her sister poked her forehead and rolled her golden eyes exasperatedly. "Come on, Mom and Dad have been worried."_

_"B-but it was so scary, Mia-"_

_"No." Mia poked her forehead again. It was an action that the elder sister often did whenever Ava would cry, so she was used to it. Even so, the action distracted her enough to make her stop talking as she listened to her older sister. "Stop crying. If you cry, that'll worry others and make you look weaker. Instead..." The black haired girl grinned at her, her amber eyes sparkling as she spoke. "Smile."_

_"S-smile?"_

_"Yes, Ava, smile. Haven't you ever heard that word?"_

_"Obviously yes!" The girl puffed up her chest proudly. She had always been the best in things like reading and writing: Dad said she could even someday become a cool Mage just like him and Mom. Maybe even a Card Mage like him, he had said. "I just don't understand why-"_

_"Frowning makes other people sad too."_

_"Okay…" Ava gave her a half-hearted grin. She wanted her sister to be proud of her. Mia was her role model: the brave elder twin who always had to take care of her crybaby little sister. She wanted to be like Mia…_

_"At least try. Anyone can tell that smile is fake. Act, Ava, act, or you won't be able to survive in life. You need to be strong, and never show your emotions. It's kind of like dancing: you always need to smile during the whole dance, even if your heart is crying inside. Understand?"_

_"Sometimes I wonder if we're really the same age…" Ava mumbled before beaming brightly. "But okay! Hey, hey, Mia, can you play with me later?"_

_"I can't." Mia's golden gaze turned distant, a strange smile coming over her face that almost looked like a smirk as her eyes glazed over in thought. "Mom needs to teach me how to dance more." Their mother was a mysterious woman: she had one day just appeared in the small rural town on the outskirts of Magnolia and captured their father's heart as soon as he saw her. According to him she had gotten into a fight with her family about a matter and ran away, which was why they never had visits from their grandparents (Dad's parents had died a long time ago)._

_Their mother was a dancer that had been part of a dancing troupe when she had retired to marry their father, and she wanted her daughters to continue her legacy. Ava, however, wasn't skilled enough to dance to her mother's liking which was why Mia was the one who was being privately tutored by their mother._

_"But ever since Mom started teaching you, Mia, you haven't been happy as much!" It was true. Every day, Ava and their father would hear three knocks on their door to open it and find a completely exhausted Mia alongside their mother, who looked as prestigious and elegant as always._

_"I love dancing." That was true enough: even before their mother was teaching Mia, the energetic girl had always practiced by herself with Ava as an audience and critique._

_"Then why are you crying inside?"_

_"How do you know if I am?"_

_"I'm your twin, Mia. I know exactly how you feel and act. It's a twin thing."_

_Her sister's gaze turned cold as she turned around, grabbing her twin's hand and dragging her in a specific direction. "Let's head back to Mom and Dad."_

_"No, Mia-!"_

_"Let's go."_

* * *

"Me?" Ava pointed a finger at herself in surprise, shock filtering through her face as she registered what had just been spoken to her. "Master Bob, I'm honored and all, but should it really be me leading this important investigation? And where do the Rune Knights fit into all of this? Weren't they supposed to be the ones dealing with this kind of stuff?"

"The Rune Knights came here because they couldn't figure it out. It seems like the magic signal disappeared every time they approached it. They specifically asked for you to lead this quest: they said that you might know something about this." Master Bob replied, his eyebrows crinkling kindly. "I'm sure that if I ask I can hand the leadership to someone else."

"It's fine," Ava spoke. If they specifically requested for her and Master Bob declined, it might strain relationships between Blue Pegasus and the Rune Knights, and possibly the Council. The drawbacks and risks were too huge. "But I'm not sure how exactly I can help."

"They must have seen something in you that you don't see in yourself then." Bob patted the girl on the head. "Gather mages that you trust completely and begin the investigation. They don't just have to be from our guild: many other guilds have talented mages as well. However, I suggest to not bring too much attention to the mission only take a few from each guild."

"I see…" Ava looked thoughtful for a moment. "Thank you, Master."

Different guilds...several faces flashed through her mind as she thought about it. She wouldn't want to bother Fairy Tail's training (if possible) because of their severe training gap behind the other competitors. Even so, she knew in her heart she would come to the guild for help. But the rest, well…

"Hibiki-kun, can you come here for a second?" Ava called across the guild, and the blonde mage came flaunting towards her.

"Yes, Ava-chan?"

She pulled him closer, not to the point that the fangirls would grow rabid (they once had when Ava had accidentally tripped and hugged Hibiki), but to talk. Her voice was lowered an octave, near a whisper. "I've been issued a quest by the Council. Well, more like the Rune Knights can't do a certain job and they need me to do it. Will you help me?"

"Of course. When do we leave?" Hibiki said immediately, his eyes cool as he ignored the many feminine pairs of eyes on him.

"I'm going to meet up with the other members of our quest. We'll meet at Magnolia's town square a week from now at noon."

He nodded. "Understood."

First stop: Lamia Scale.

* * *

"Ooba Babasaama." Ava bowed before Lamia Scale's guild master, or in this case mistress. The old woman was quite eccentric...with her little unique quirks, according to Lyon. However, the woman was strong and had the guild's interests at heart, just like most of the other guild's masters. There were always the exceptions, however, Ava thought as she remembered the first time she had met Sabertooth's master, Jiemma.

"What is it child? Eh? Never seen you before." The woman peered closer before her face lit up in recognition. "It's that girl who was with Lyon!" Ava sighed. Was that really what she was known as in Lamia Scale?

Several of the guild members' turned at the loud voice and Ava waved a nonchalant hand to tell them it was nothing as they turned back around. "Ooba Babasaama, to be frank, I need Lyon for a mission. And possibly someone else if he trusts them enough. The Rune Knights have assigned me to a mission that I need to complete."

"Eh? You're a Rune Knight?" The lady squinted at her. "I hate those people! I'll make them spin, spin!"

"I'm not." Ava waved her hands frantically. "I just am...related to the mission somehow and they need my..help?"

Ooba Babasaama stared at her for a little, and even Ava had to admit she sounded suspicious (even though she was telling the truth). A girl, from an opposing guild, asks for one of their guild's key members just a month before the Grand Magic Games for a supposed 'mission from the Rune Knights? Ridiculous!

"Lyon will still be training during the mission, and this is a great opportunity to spy on the other guild's members," Ava tried to persuade. "I promise I'll make sure he doesn't slack off."

Ava suddenly brightened as she realized she had forgotten to show the woman the letter she had received from Master Bob with the official seal of the Council on it. She pulled it out of her purse: something she kept on her at all times since the disastrous situation in the mountains. Even though they had managed to sort things out, that sort of situation made her keep on her guard at all times. The lady eyed it before nodding.

"I see...LYON~ COME HERE BEFORE I SPIN YOU!"

In a mere matter of seconds (and that was quite an achievement considering the man was all the way across the guild), the blue haired mage was there, panting and wide eyed. He straightened himself, clearing his throat as if he had not just zoomed across the way. "Yes, Ooba Babasaama?"

…

…

…

Both Ava and Ooba Babasaama stared at him for a moment before both looked away and sighed exasperatedly.

"You…" The woman pointed at him. "...will go with this girl and do whatever she needs you to do for her. You are excused from training, but make sure to get back in time for the Grand Magic Games. I am confident you have already trained enough that you won't make a complete fool out of our guild."

"Who-" He turned to see the familiar figure of Ava, her midnight black hair framing her tanned face as her golden eyes glinted while she lifted a hand in greeting, her bracelets clinking together and making a metallic sound from the motion.

"Yo. I'm surprised you didn't notice me beforehand."

"Ava…" His feet moved before his mind reacted as he wrapped his arms around her. After a few seconds, the Ice Mage seemed to regain control of his body as his eyes widened and his cheeks were dusted a light pink, pulling back from the girl and studying her. "How have you been? I wasn't able to talk to you much the last time we met."

"Good." The girl seemed amused by his unusually flustered expression she had only seen twice: once when the girls at the hotsprings had accused him to be a pervert (in reality the mage had been destroying a monster disguised as a female client), the other when he had first met Juvia during Fairy Tail's return. Although, she couldn't deny the slight blush coming across her own face as his arms held hers. "I need you for a mission."

"A mission?"

She nodded in confirmation. "I suspect it won't be an easy breeze, but I trust that you'll be able to help. If you know anyone else you can trust, you can bring them too. Not too many. We'll meet 6 days from now at Magnolia's town square. Are you up for it?"

"Do you really need to ask?" He raised an eyebrow.

A broad smile began to take its way over her face. "Thanks, Lyon." She knew that she could count on him to be the easiest

Next stop: Fairy Tail.

* * *

"What do you mean you _can't find them_?" Ava slammed her hands against the table as she glared at the poor Alzack who was currently receiving the brunt of her temper, the rest of the Fairy Tail members looking on and giving the man their looks of silent support. The Guns Mage looked at his wife for help, but Bisca just shrugged and muttered something like not wanting to get involved as she patted a happy and oblivious Asuka on the head.

"They've seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. Last time we heard from them was Erza's report that they were going to the Celestial Spirit world for a while."

Ava slapped her hand against her forehead as she sighed. "And do they realize that the Celestial Spirit world is not the ideal place to train?"

"...they might not have been there to train?" Alzack said sheepishly, the statement coming out more like a question as the Fairy Tail members behind Ava shook their heads and made an 'x' sign with their arms.

"WHAT?! I swear, when I get my hands on those people…" Ava growled, her fury beginning to rise as she started muttering inaudible curses and threats towards her former teammates. "I ask them one thing, one thing: to prove Fairy Tail's strength, and they go on partying? The next thing you know it they'll get some kind of instant power-up that makes them super overpowered."

(If only she knew that she would jinx it, Ava would have never said that.)

"A-anyways," Mirajane-bless the poor sweet woman's heart for trying to start a decent conversation with the girl- said, "You can use someone else for your mission." Alzack gave her a thankful look behind Ava, to which the white haired woman nodded to in acknowledgement.

"But there is no one else!"

Mirajane's kind blue eyes scanned the guildhall until she suddenly brightened and beamed at Ava. "Then would you allow me to pick?"

"Uh...sure." Ava seemed to calm down a notch as she looked at the watch she was wearing. She had promised Eve that they would go out and eat at a cafe at noon, and including the time it took to get back to the guild, she needed to leave in a few minutes. "Just make sure that you send them to the town square five days from now. And can you try to pick only two mages? Particularly powerful if possible?"

"Don't worry, don't worry." Mirajane waved her hand, her sky blue eyes glittering mischievously like they usually did whenever she was coming up with a tricky scheme and Ava was already starting to regret letting the woman pick her teammates as she walked out of the guild, waving as she said her goodbyes.

O_O

Five days later, in the middle of Magnolia's central square, Ava was definitely regretting her decision of letting Mirajane pick her teammates as she stared at the most suspicious and traitorous guild members of Fairy Tail, completely open mouthed as she ignored Hibiki and Lyon who were standing beside her.

"Ghihihihi, I bet you weren't expecting us." Gajeel crossed his arms over his chest as he gave her a wide smirk, chewing on some scrap metal as if it were gum easily. "Nice to see you again, Princess. We couldn't really catch up the last time I saw you."

Ava twitched at hearing the endearing nickname (the only other ones who called her something other than her name was Eve and Ren-the latter of whom she had often reprimanded and told she didn't want to be called 'sweetheart'). "It's nice to see you again too, Gajeel."

The Iron Dragon Slayer and herself had a somewhat tolerable relationship: they had a mutual understanding of as-long-as-you-don't-piss-off-me, I-don't-piss-off-you going on when she had been a part of the guild. She had sometimes paired with him for missions-much to the man's reluctance-and she supposed she respected the man.

Turning to her left, she nodded in respect and acknowledgement. "Laxus."

"Ava." The blonde mage had no inclination to talk, so she did the same. He usually ignored her-whether it be because he deemed her unworthy to talk to, or simply uninteresting she didn't know-and only interacted with her a few times (and that was mainly just so he could piss off Natsu and Gray for taunting their teammate). Despite that, she still had not-so-fond memories of him during the Battle of Fairy Tail (in which she had gotten pathetically knocked out by Freed after getting trapped in one of his runes), but she pushed the memories away and reminded herself that according to Lucy, he had saved the team when they were about to be defeated by Hades.

…

…

...

This was what Mira considered trustworthy comrades who could help her own her mission? The guild's number one traitor and worst enemy-turned-good?

Ava resisted the urge to bang her head against a wall.

"Uh, I hope you don't mind me tagging along." Cheria tugged at her skirt shyly, startling the black haired girl out of her thoughts and Ava smiled. The girl reminded her of Wendy, and most likely if the two girls met they would become good friends.

"It's fine." As soon as the words left her lips, the pink haired mage's teal eyes widened as she fell and tripped quite extravagantly to the ground, pulling herself up as she muttered 'ow...'

"Are you okay?" Ava asked, tilting her head slightly as she extended her hand for the Sky God Slayer to take, which the girl did gratefully.

"T-thank you. I'm fine."

"Well, I'm glad to see there's at least one other girl on the team." Ava laughed, rubbing the back of her neck embarrassedly. "When I'm just with my regular team, they're just a bunch of playboys." Ignoring Hibiki's indignant 'hey!', she continued, "I hope we get along well."

"M-me too, Ava-san! I really look up to you!"

"Now, let me debrief the mission." Her golden eyes turned serious as she straightened herself, motioning them to follow her as she led them outside of town and near the outskirts of the city limits. "Recently, there's been an upsurge of Eternano and Dark Magic near the coast of Favorack, a small beach town to the East of Magnolia. Apparently a Worshipping Cult of Zeref or something along the lines of that has been forming there around the same period these surges of magical energy have been happening."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "In particular, there's been one magic signal that keeps on moving and emitting Forbidden Magic, but whenever the Rune Knights try to approach it the signal disappears. They suspect that the Worshipping Cult might be doing some kind of ritual using Forbidden Magic to 'bring Zeref to his full power' once more. We're being sent there to check things out. Understood?"

"Yeah…"

* * *

**A/N: And that's a wrap! A mini-arc ensues. *bows in apology to those who wanted the GMG* But trust me, we'll still have some subplot stuff that leads into the main plot. The flashback in the beginning of the story is just a small hint to what's going to happen on this mission.**

**And about the whole Rune Knights asking Ava to help thing...well here's my supposed justification. Skip this paragraph if you want to. During the 7 year timeskip before Ava joined Blue Pegasus, she was helping out the Rune Knights as a Solo Mage for about five years (which you'll see in future flashbacks). There was one particular nasty incident where she helped them stop an uprising and in actuality the Rune Knights sort of wanted to recruit her. Of course, Eve and co. came at the right time and got her instead but even now she's considered someone they can call on when they have other things to do. I assume that the Rune Knights must have a lot going on, patrolling and getting ready for the GMG and they can't be bothered with just something like a random Dark Magic signal in a small beach town. So they'd use their power to make other people do the work for them. And the reason that Ava didn't want to just bring the Trimens was because then they wouldn't get as much training in, plus she'd like to scout out the other guilds. The reason there isn't any other guildmembers save Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail is because this authoress is a lazy ass and doesn't want to write a thousand characters.**

**Anyways...yeah. My logic is weird.**

**Here's our question of the chapter: How do you think this team is going to interact with each other? Hibiki, Ava, Lyon, Cheria, Gajeel, and Laxus. LOL total destruction.**

**Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, follows, and reads! I read every single review I get and I'm always smiling at the end.**


	13. Chapter 13

_"Loke," Ava greeted the flirt good naturedly, crossing her legs as she leaned against the counter while the ginger haired man sat down next to her._

_He might have been revealed as a Celestial Spirit, but the man definitely still was Loke to her. Loke, her companion in which she'd seek knowledge from. Sure, she came to Gray for advice, but she definitely came to the Celestial Spirit if she wanted to learn anything._

_She seeked power, but to have power you had to have knowledge. And that was why Ava was seated before the Celestial Spirit once again as the rest of Fairy Tail buzzed around her in a frenzy. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Gray provoking Natsu at the front of the guild, while a very oblivious Erza happily ate her strawberry shortcake that had been given to her by Lucy. The blonde mage was sitting next to Erza and both women were happily involved in conversation._

_"Ava, my beautiful-"_

_"Pedophile." Ava deadpanned, already used to such compliments from him for them to have an affect on her. Technically, Loke was ancient: a spirit that was almost as old as time itself. She always liked to press that point just because Loke valued his youthful appearance._

_(Thinking back at it, that must have been why Ava was able to deal with the Trimens so easily, but at the time she just found Loke's flirting annoying.)_

_"You wound me, my beautiful flower," Loke said mournfully as he put his hand to his chest, tears springing to his eyes as an aura of sparkles and flowers surrounded them. That aura was quickly washed away by Ava's blunt response._

_"I'm glad."_

_The man seemed to visibly deflate at her response as he sighed, putting his hands on the counter and motioning to Mira to get him a glass of water. "So, what do you want to learn about this time?"_

_The girl fidgeted for a moment, looking similar to Wendy, before Ava glanced down at her book while biting her lip, a small blush coming over her face._

_"The Celestial World!" Ava blurted out, and she blushed and drew back as she recomposed herself. "I-I mean I want to learn about the Celestial World and its spirits. I've only met about half of Lucy's spirits, and there are probably more out there."_

"_Ah, I see." Loke rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and he nodded, a small smile playing at his face. It had been too long since someone had actually asked something of him unrelated to combat. "The Celestial World is ruled by one supreme leader…"_

_For the rest of his quiet lecture Ava was listening closely, nodding every now and then to signal her attention was still on him. They continued like that for another 20 minutes before Natsu abruptly interrupted their conversation._

* * *

"What are you _doing?_" Laxus's eyebrows raised as he saw three fast blurs running towards them, Cheria and Hibiki standing next to him as they tried to discern what was happening.

"Running for our lives! You should try it sometime!" Ava called sarcastically, zipping past her team and grabbing Cheria and Hibiki by the arm, Gajeel and Lyon grabbing Laxus and dragging him with much effort. Hearing a bunch of feet resounding behind them, her eyes narrowed, "Hurry up! They're catching up to us!"

'Uwaah~" Cheria did a perfect faceplant on the ground, and Ava skidded to a halt as she pushed Hibiki ahead, grabbing the pink haired girl and hoisting her on her back, running with the girl clinging onto her neck. After training in the mountains in preparation for the Grand Magic Festival Ava had gotten used to stamina training by running laps around a long track with a teammate sitting on her (they refused to use a rock and tie it to their backs while they ran because it could be dirty-the divas...).

"Will you be okay?" Lyon asked as they ran, dodging shocked pedestrians as they moved from side to side. "I can take her if you want, Cheria's my teammate."

"She's mine now too, or at least for the time being. And I'll be fine."

"What exactly did you guys _do_ to piss off those guys?" Laxus asked, running at their pace with ease. It seemed like the Lightning Dragon Slayer hadn't even broken into a sweat.

"Well…that's a long story."

**5 hours prior…**

"Ah, we're finally here!" Ava stretched her weary shoulders. The train carriage was too crowded for her liking: there was literally barely any room to breathe. But here...she took a whiff of the salty sea breeze. It was free. Turning to her group, she beamed, pulling something out of her luggage and handing each of them one.

"What...is this?" Lyon held up one of the shiny glowing teal crystals, and Ava waved her hand at Hibiki as if to say _you can explain._

"Basically, it's a Communication Lacrima that allows our group members to talk to each other from wherever we are. All of these are connected, so if you talk to one person, the whole team can hear it." Hibiki explained. "It's a newer Lacrima that came out recently. Blue Pegasus usually is the guild to get the first of the newest Lacrimas. We always pre-order them before they even come out."

"And now Master Bob said we can use these for the mission!" Ava grinned. "Isn't that great?"

"I suppose." Lyon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Aww, spoilsport." Ava pulled out two more Lacrimas, those ones a neon purple color. "These can detect Forbidden Magic, Dark Magic, or anything really related to Zeref. They're really expensive, so I was only able to get my hands on two, so if we split up it should be in groups of three. Be careful with the-" She suddenly paused, her golden eyes flashing as her skin prickled. "-Lyon, Gajeel, come with me. You other three stay here."'

"Are you sure about this? I mean, having people from different guilds is bound to have some cohesion in teamwork…" Cheria asked, looking a little hesitant on the idea.

"It'll be fine. Hurry, you two. I felt something this way." She tossed the other purple Lacrima to Hibiki, who she knew she could trust to use it properly and take care of it.

As Lyon and Gajeel hurried after Ava, who was taking rapid footsteps to the edge of the sea village, a figure on a rooftop smiled, the action looking more like a sinister smirk on her face, her amber eyes glinting.

"So they're finally here."

...

They were in front of a cave near the seashore. The location was so close to the ocean that the atmosphere was slightly salty, and three figures could be seen standing in front of the cave, hesitating and debating on whether or not they should enter it.

The air was moist and damp, and it made Ava's clothes stick to her skin which did not help placate her rising frustration as she glared at her Tracking Lacrima accusingly.

"I swear I felt something this way!" Ava kicked her foot frustratedly as she glanced inside the sea cave again, but she couldn't really discern anything in the darkness. "And that cave looks a little too suspicious. I should have brought Laxus along to light the cave so we could have explored it."

"You know if he heard that, Princess, he'd probably grumble about being used as a candle?" Gajeel asked, his eyebrows raised as he gave her a smirk. Ava twitched but said nothing to that as she stared up at the ceiling. She swore she would be the _mature_ one this time, and thus took a deep breath before releasing it and turning back to the Iron Dragon Slayer fully calm.

"Ah, I've been meaning to ask this for a while but I never got an opportunity. Why did you two agree to come on this mission?" Ava's copper-gold eyes peered up at him. "I mean, we weren't that close and all, and you can be using this time to train."

"That shitty woman kept threatening us to go, and when we refused she started crying."

"Ah." Ava nodded in understanding. Mirajane often did use her feminine tricks to make the boys do something (Fairy Tail men-or maybe men in general-never really were immune to a woman's tears). She leered at her former guildmate. "So in reality you're just a big softie, aren't you?"

"Don't push it, woman."

"Heh." She laughed, the noise echoing in the cave as she turned to Lyon. "Should we try heading in there?"

"I don't see why not." Lyon looked at the cave warily, the Ice Mage taking a step forward and holding out his hand to her suavely. "Well, shall we go?"

"You flatter me." She walked past him, a reminder that she was an independent woman and didn't need his help for everything. Behind her Gajeel sighed and wondered why he was stuck with these two flirting teammates.

They walked into the cave as silent as possible, keeping the sounds of their footprints to a bare minimum mainly because any sound would echo across the walls and the cave. They didn't want to alert any enemies that might be waiting for them of their presence.

The air was musky and damp, with the tiniest whiff of salt considering the town's proximity to the ocean. The moisture in the air seemed to absorb in Ava's clothes, making her movements almost sluggish as she continued to take light footsteps into the darkness.

Gajeel's ears perked up, meaning that there was some kind of sound ahead that Ava and Lyon couldn't discern yet. A Dragon Slayer's senses were always the most trustworthy, so when he motioned for them to slow down Ava did so (albeit reluctantly at being ordered around).

As they came even closer Ava squinted, spotting some sort of light source up ahead, and her eyes moved questioningly to Lyon. The Ice Mage shrugged, and both teammates looked at Gajeel who motioned for them to edge to the side of the cave.

"...with this, Zeref-sama will finally awaken once more." A man's voice echoed through the cave as they drew closer to the light at the end of the cave. "We give you our thanks, daughter of Zeref."

There was silence for a moment and the sound of robes moving echoed through the cavern before someone else spoke up.

"Heh, I suppose I _am_ quite amazing. But don't call me 'daughter of Zeref', that sounds disgusting." A feminine voice chuckled sinisterly, and Ava's golden eyes widened as she suddenly stopped walking, Lyon and Gajeel nearly bumping into her as they gave her questioning looks that she promptly ignored.

"Mia?" She spoke, her eyes wide and mouth agape as she stared at the figures in front of her. There were about 10 men, all equipped with weapons of various assort, with one of the men standing next to a familiar feminine figure.

Ava wanted to mentally smack herself on the head for drawing everyone's attention, but she felt like she was completely frozen and could only stare at the slim figure in front of her.

The woman turned and looked at her with mild interest. "Ah, it seems we were interrupted. Hello, Ava dearest." Smirking, she directed the men. "Boys, according to my info this woman was sent here by the Rune Knights to try to stop you all from awakening Zeref-sama. You should attack her."

And all at once, there was movement in the cave as Lyon and Gajeel shared a silent understanding look as they simultaneously grabbed one of Ava's arms and dragged her unceremoniously out of the cave, the men following them as they bared their weapons.

"We need to get out of here!" Gajeel hissed into Ava's ear as she regained her senses and began to run with them. "And how the fuck do you know that shady woman?"

"I-I…" Ava seemed almost frantic as she tried to regain her bearings as she ran.

"She can tell us later. For now we need to focus on getting out of this place." Lyon was strangely calm considering the situation they were in, but Ava supposed he was always the coolest (no pun intended) of the team. He was always the one who stayed calm in the team and Ava knew she could trust him to make the right decisions.

"Y-yeah. Okay." Ava nodded hurriedly, regaining her own feet as she took off running with them.

They were running as fast as they could back to where they knew the remainder of their team was waiting. "Hurry!"

...

"And...yeah, that's what basically happened." Ava finished, pulling her team so they ducked behind a corner. At these times she wished she could have something like Doranbolt's powers of teleportation. Or really, any kind of magic that could help them out.

"I see…" Hibiki's eyes were still solely focused on the streets, where the men had scared off any pedestrians that were hanging around on the streets and were spread out, searching for them.

Lyon said, his eyes focused on the road still, "Ava, we'll need to talk later."

"I know." Her copper eyes narrowed as they darkened a fraction. "I can't promise I can answer all of your questions, but I'll do my best."

"Can't? Or won't?" Laxus muttered, and Hibiki shot him a look.

"You two were former guildmates. You of all people should be able to trust Ava."

"Heh, last time I saw her she was some weak pipsqueak who hid herself behind false bravado. Seems like things haven't changed much."

Hibiki looked like he was about to jump to his teammate's defense, and Lyon wasn't looking much better, so Ava stopped both of them. "Don't. It's true, anyways."

"Well at least you got that right…" Laxus muttered, turning away as Ava ruffled through her bag before pulling out a bunch of wigs, glasses, and jewelry and handing them to her team, ignoring the tension in the air as she couldn't help but take her revenge on Laxus out in a different way.

In a matter of moments, each was decked out with a completely different look. Ava had worn her brown contacts again, along with a nice red wig that reached her waist. Laxus was...comically dressed in a quite eye-catching sparkly outfit that included a fancy purple boa and several gold necklaces and bracelets, the man wrinkling his nose at the outfit.

Lyon was wearing a plain, ordinary brown wig and leather coat over his usual blue outfit. Hibiki just slicked his hair back with gel and wore glasses. Cheria was wearing a light lavender wig and a slightly oversized coat. Gajeel was wearing a red scarf and a blonde wig.

"Disguises." Ava beamed at her team, who didn't look as happy as their leader did at the sudden change of clothing. "Don't take them off, don't complain, I don't want to hear it. Understood?"

"_Hai…_"

Faintly she heard the henchmen's steps walking away from them, the group murmuring about heading back to the cave for now and regrouping.

"We'll stay at a seaside cottage a little way away from town tonight. I know where it is, so if you brave and strong men just carry all the luggage while I guide you, it would be highly appreciated." Ava gave them a wicked smile, tugging on Cheria and dropping her luggage unceremoniously next to Laxus. "Let's go, Cheria."

"Um...okay." The girl trailed after her senior, watching the simmering men warily as they left, brushing off the dust on her pale blue skirt gathered from falling to the ground, the sleeves of her slightly oversized coat nearly covering her hands as she bowed. "Thank you."

Hibiki sniffed, grabbing Ava's luggage and handing Cheria's to Laxus, refusing to look him in the eye as he began to follow his teammate, adjusting his fake glasses with ease. "Learn to be a gentlemen. At least Blue Pegasus is civilized and can work with women."

"Excuse me?" Laxus growled, discarding an unnecessary golden necklace before he felt a chill down his spine and quickly put it back on as Ava looked back at him, her eyes narrowing into a glare as she looked at the necklace. "I can work perfectly fine with anybody."

Lyon just shook his head and sighed, his shoulders slumping as he wondered why his team was as it was as he and Gajeel followed Hibiki's trail. "Let it go, Laxus-san. We should follow them before we are left behind."

"Tch." Laxus stomped after them, muttering curses under his breath about beating that petty woman at the Grand Magic Games.

* * *

**A/N: First of all, I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! (cries in corner)**

**I thought Summer wouldn't be as busy as school, but on the contrary it's much busier...and to top it this chapter was sort of disconnected and short. (cries again). I apologize for that. Plus I was irresponsible enough to start a SYOC FT story so now I have more workload on my hands...**

**...anyways, so yeah. Mini-arc. Big stuff, at least regarding how this story's going to go. I bet none of you really expected Mia to be all...evil and stuff. Mwahaha! On another note, I'm just throwing those Lyon hints left and right now, eh? I probably should lay it back a little, but I have so much Hibiki-induced torture for our favorite Ice Mage that I couldn't resist. Hibiki's surprisingly my favorite character to write...and I couldn't resist throwing in a Hibiki-Laxus thing.**

**I feel like I made Laxus slightly strange. Grr...I could never really do the cool guys right.**

**Oh well. Thank you for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following! I'm very happy whenever any of those things happen, and your support helps motivate me a lot.**


	14. Chapter 14

_Ava had just boarded a train that would be heading towards Crocus, where Ava would be attending the third annual Grand Magic Games to see the current generation of mages. She wasn't foolish enough to think of something like her 'current time was up', nor was she cocky enough to say that she was the best out of the new generation of mages that had popped up after Fairy Tail's disappearance._

"_What are you looking at?" Someone's voice startled her out of her thoughts and Ava looked up, her golden eyes blinking bewilderedly before recognizing the figure._

"_Rogue Cheney, Shadow Dragon Slayer and one of the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth." She identified him easily. The last time she had saw him was when she met him and his partner at the beach during one of the missions the Council gave her. "Are you heading to the Grand Magic Games as well?"_

"_Titles are just titles, and I am heading there." The man's face was cool, and Ava speculated on the fact that over the years he was approaching the age that Natsu and the others had been before they disappeared. That thought made her clench her jaw and she pushed it away._

"_Strange not to see you with Sting. Where's that brat anyways?"_

"_He decided that this method of transportation was too inconvenient for him and is currently walking on foot to the city." Rogue's comment made Ava snort at the idiotic ideal, and a thought struck her as she glanced up at the raven haired man._

_She didn't know too much about Rogue, but she knew he was...nicer, compared to Sting and the rest of Sabertooth if his love of the small Exceed by his side was any indication. Ava noticed how the Exceed was hiding behind Rogue's foot and she gave a smile at the Exceed, getting off her chair and bending down. "And what's your name?"_

"_Frosch!" The green skinned creature gave her a very cute smile as he puffed out his cheeks, and Ava resisted the urge to both laugh and cry at the high pitched voice that reminded her of Happy._

"_You're very cute, you know," she said warmly as she fished out of her bag a bag of candy she had been planning on giving Asuka if she met the small girl during the Games. "Take this."_

"_Thank you." Rogue said for his partner as his eyes softened when he looked down at Frosch. "You're very kind."_

"_Frosch thinks so too!"_

"_No problem," Ava dismissed easily as she shifted the weight of her foot as she searched to see if any other Sabertooth members were present. It seemed as if Rogue was travelling alone, and she bit her lip supposing she could use a little company as she gestured to the empty seat next to her while sitting back in her own seat. "Want to sit down?"_

_Rogue seemed caught off guard by her sudden hospitality and his cheeks reddened before nodding and taking a seat next to her. "Thank you."_

_(They spent the rest of the trip in a companionable silence, Ava silently supporting the Dragon Slayer struggling through his motion sickness. Perhaps that was why Sting hadn't joined his partner on the trip.)_

* * *

"Wow~" Cheria breathed, spinning around the room with her arms extended as Ava watched the girl warily so she wouldn't fall. "It's beautiful, Ava-san! How did you manage to find this place?"

It was true. The cottage was literally by the seaside, its walls a pure white that reflected the light that shone on it. There were a few rooms: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and one kitchen that lead to the patio, where a wooden table fit for about 8 people awaited them. Ava had divided it so Cheria and her shared a room, Lyon and Hibiki, and Laxus and Gajeel. Originally she had put Hibiki and Laxus together-to which both men adamantly refused until she finally switched their room assignments. The decor was minimum and simple, with several vases decorating the room with fresh lilies picked by Cheria in them. It was a quaint little cottage.

"I...used to come here a long time ago." Her eyes turned reminiscent as her golden orbs stared at the wall, not really seeing before she blinked and her usual shrewdness was back. "But that was the past. We live in the present." Cheria swung her legs idly as she sat on the bed. The two girls were sitting in their shared bedroom, Ava setting up several Surveillance Lacrimas around the cottage and a Lacrima Vision screen in the room so they could keep an eye on any unwanted visitors.

"I see." The girl was smart enough to not press the subject, at least, and Ava mentally thanked her for that.

"Why don't we check on the boys?" Ava asked, standing up and stretching. She had changed into an unassuming outfit consisting of a light green shirt and khaki pants, and was wearing fake glasses and wore her black hair in a short braid. It was better to be safe than sorry when it came to disguises.

She had helped Cheria with her make-up (the girl had wanted to both impress Lyon and disguise herself, and apparently Ava _had_ learned something useful from being a part of the fashionista guild Blue Pegasus), and now the girl looked nearly unrecognizable, her pink hair put down so it fell in waves by her side, sort of resembling her cousin Sherry, and the makeup intentionally made her look older and completely destroyed the lolita look she had before.

As soon as they exited the room, they were met by the sounds of shouting and distinct clangs of metal against metal in the kitchen, and Ava cautiously opened the door to reveal one messy Hibiki, one pissed off Laxus, a smirking Gajeel, and an exasperated Lyon. "What happened here?" Cheria voiced her thoughts, taking in the fact that the boys were completely covered in eggs.

"Tch, I'm going to take a shower." Laxus stomped past them, Hibiki doing the same except in a much less boorish manner. The girls' attention swerved to Lyon, who sighed and simply explained, "They were hungry. It quickly evolved into a competition of who could make the better scrambled eggs and Hibiki pissed off Laxus, causing him to send electric sparks through the stove and making the meal blow up."

...Ava was _really_ starting to regret letting Mira pick her teammates. "Alright then. Who here can cook? I can't." Cheria shook her head, giggling sheepishly as she said something about being too clumsy to do so before brightening.

"Lyon can cook!" She beamed. "Everyone else on our team is hopeless when it comes to these things, so sometimes when we need to pull an all-nighter for a mission and there are no restaurants nearby he cooks for us!" The said mage in question nearly jumped as the rest of his team turned their attention to him.

"Ghihihi, so the Ice Prince can cook, eh? Such a girly skill." Gajeel said, leaning against the wall of the kitchen. He looked mainly unscathed from the cooking competition Hibiki and Laxus had just had, although there were a few stray pieces of egg on his arms. Looking at them, he shrugged and said, "I'll take a shower _after_ I eat."

"Lyon, can you cook for us?"

"...fine." Lyon casted one glare towards Gajeel to stop him from uttering even one more word about his 'girly' skill as he searched the cabinets to see what ingredients the kitchen was stocked with. Using his hands to make a shooing motion, he said, "Out. I need privacy while I cook."

"Just like a wife." Ava giggled as she felt his glare on her. "Okay, okay, we get it. We'll get out. Come on, you two."

A few minutes later, the whole team (minus Lyon) was sitting in the table. Hibiki had taken the seat next to Ava and Laxus the farthest away from her teammate. It was thus Ava found herself sitting across to Cheria and sandwiched between Gajeel and Hibiki.

"It's finished." A hand set down several plates in front of them, and Ava looked up to see Lyon in a pink cooking apron, his face scrunched up slightly thanks to their scrutiny as Ava withheld a giggle, covering her mouth with her hands. "Don't laugh at me." Lyon turned, his cheeks starting to redden. "They only had this apron available, so deal with it." He untied the back string that held the apron together and took it off, hanging it on one of the hooks in the walls of the kitchen.

"Such a girly guy we're teaming up with. I'm on a team with a bunch of pansies." Laxus snorted, and Hibiki stiffened just a tiny bit-if Ava had not been his teammate for the past few years, she wouldn't have even noticed his discomfort over his suave smile still plastered on his face- as his glare at the Lightning Dragon Slayer intensified.

Cheria giggled, her face a nice shade of pink as she said dreamily, her cerulean eyes flashing with some kind of emotion akin to love, "I think you look fine, Lyon-kun."

"Thank you, Cheria. At least _someone_ appreciates the fact that I'm cooking for them." Lyon glanced over at Gajeel, who just gave him a lazy smirk.

"But _I_ obviously look better." Hibiki gave his input.

"Tch, both of you pansies are just irritable." Laxus leaned back into his chair comfortably.

"Never knew you had such a word in your dictionary, Laxus-san." Hibiki said smoothly, his eyes narrowed and body tense as the two glowered at each other.

"...why am I missing my old team so much?" Ava wondered pitifully.

* * *

"Ava." Lyon nodded, as she sat next to him. They were at the beach: it was quite easy to access it because the cottage was right next to the shoreline. It seemed like meeting people at the beach was becoming a common occurrence. Ava's lips tugged into a smile. There had been so many important memories she had made at beaches: her first meeting with Sting and Rogue, her talks with Gray, her talks with Lyon, and even now. The sand was soft and a pure white color, letting her feet sink into the ground as she lowered herself to sit next to him.

"What do you want to know?" She asked before he said anything, pulling her knees to her chest as she wrapped her arms around them.

"Who was that woman? How did she know you?"

Of course he would skip the small, idle chat and immediately start at the problem at hand. She took a deep breath, willing to at least let this small piece of information go. "If I recognized her correctly...her name is Mia Lucioni, and she's my twin sister."

Lyon's eyes lit up with something akin to surprise as her shoulders slumped defeatedly; two completely opposite reactions. He deserved to know, and if there was anyone she trusted to keep the information a secret, it would be Lyon.

"Why was she there?" he asked cautiously, knowing he was treading on thin ice. "Is she a Mage? What kind of magic does she use?"

"Well, I don't know the answer to some of those questions, but I'll try my best." Ava gave him a wry smile as the two sat down on the beach.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating sooner...I felt like this story wasn't that good and I started a Fairy Tail SYOC so I was stuck on that for a while. As an apology, expect a special !crack chapter coming tomorrow or the day after since this chapter is quite short.**

**On the bright side, you all are so kind! Thank you for all the reviews/follows/favorites/reads!**

**A lot of just random team bonding (hmm...maybe I should use a better term than _bonding_) and an intentional cut off of Ava and Lyon's conversation because I don't want to reveal everything about Ava and Mia yet. (I love you all? Don't kill me...)**

**Anyways, until next time!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: The as-promised special for an apology for my lack of updating. I wrote this a while ago when I was listening to Gray's theme and laughing on the floor (don't ask me why) and was saving this for whatsoever reason.**

* * *

O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O

**FILLER**

_Theme Songs...and Alcohol_

O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O

"Uwaah, Ava, Ava, look!" Lucy held up a disk, her face lit up as she beamed. Her golden hair was pulled back into a practical braid that Ava had done herself, and Ava admired the fact that her painted pink fingernails had came out quite nicely. They were at the sleepover Lucy had planned-she was too enthusiastic about actually having (just) girls over at her apartment and for once invited. "Theme songs!"

Who cares about being mature?" Ava snorted, drinking some unidentified substance Cana had slipped into her hand. "I got all of you to do that for me."

"One day you'll understand…"

"_Suuuure_." Her attention was caught by something in bold about halfway through the page. "AHAHAHA! My fans at least picked something for me!"

"...did Cana give you some alcohol or something?" Lucy asked as she sweatdropped, her teammate laug"Where'd you get those?"

"I think the Sorcerer's Magazine did them, but really I have no idea…" Lucy stared at it thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging and amounting it to the usual Fairy Tail weirdness. "Why don't we listen? Erza, stop eating your cake. Cana, stop drinking. And where's Wendy?"

"I-I'm right here, Lucy-san." Wendy held up her hand shyly, and Lucy turned around to see the small girl slightly cowering in the corner.

"Come on, come on!" Lucy smiled, handing the tracklist to Ava as the golden eyed girl read through it silently.

**Official Themes**

**TRACK 1: Natsu no Theme (Natsu Dragneel)**

**TRACK 2: Titania no Yoroi (Erza Scarlet)**

**TRACK 3: Gray no Theme (Gray Fullbuster)**

Ava skipped through the rest of the 'official themes', noting that the most powerful mages only had one and pouted when she found that she didn't have an 'official theme' yet. "I'll work harder, and they'll have to acknowledge me! I'll gain a powerful title, something cool like 'Golden Mage' or 'Amber Assassin'!"

"You're not even an assassin, Ava-san." Wendy pointed out, but the girl was on a full-out Fairy Tail rant as she sparkled.

"And then I'll grow stronger than Natsu and beat him up. MWAHAHAHAHA!" Ava giggled, her eyes alit with flames as fire surrounded her before being quickly extinguished by Erza.

"You still have a long way to go." The redhead took a bite of strawberry shortcake, savoring the sweet and sour flavor for a moment before putting down her fork, making sure that the utensil didn't ruin the perfectly positioned white cream on the top of the pastry. "And you still need to grow a lot more mature! And Cana! Stop letting minors drink!"  
"Why act mature when I have you all to do it for me? I can stay a kid forever!" Ava exclaimed, laughing maniacally as Cana let out a protest about how she _never_ let minors drink with her (which no one really believed, but still). "Foreveeer…."

"Ava, you're drunk right now. Calm down a little," Lucy said gently, albeit a little cautiously as she watched her teammate.

"Whaaaat? I'm not drunk at all!" Ava cheered, drinking something from a shot glass as Erza and Lucy shot a glare at Cana, the Card Mistress shrugging guiltily. "I am perfectly normal~hehehe..."

"AHAHA! I have a theme song~" Lucy felt the urge to facepalm as she restrained her younger friend, peering over her friend's shoulder to look at the track list Ava was holding.

**Fan-Picked in the Sorcerer's Magazine's "**_**What are YOUR favorite Fairy Tail mage's theme songs?" **_

**TRACK 15: Yume to Hazakura (Ava Lucioni)**

"Heh! I got an idea! Let's talk with Gray!" Ava stood up for a moment, nearly toppling over as she reached for the Communication Lacrima she had bought, it glowing to life before she giggled. "Hi, Gray~"

"_...Ava? What are you doing at this time of the night?"_

"Ya' know, we missss yoouuu~" Ava slurred, Lucy clamping a hand over her mouth as she sighed and explained.

"Cana just got Ava a little drunk. We're having a sleepover right now, so sorry for waking you guys up."

"_Ah, I see. Then I suppose I'll go: Flame Brain's complaining in the other room right now."_

"Waaaaaiiit, I wanna talk with him more…"

"Ava, you're drunk-" Before Lucy could do anything, Ava shoved some of her alcohol into the blonde's mouth and a haze started to appear before Lucy's brown eyes as a slow blush began to spread across the Celestial Mage's cheeks. She had always been a lightweight.

"Don't tell me…" Erza backed up. She had to be the responsible one here. She had to be the responsible one here. She had to-

With the combined effort of Lucy and Ava, alcohol was quickly shoved into the redhead's mouth as the liquid slowly went down her throat. Near her, Wendy gulped-being the only sober one rather than Cana, but that wasn't too promising-and laughed nervously. "Everyone, let's please not get out of hand."

"Graaaay, I miss Naatsuuu...waah~ where is he? I wanna talk to Natsu!" Lucy demanded, and she could faintly hear an 'oh, shit' across the line as Gray realized what was happening. Luckily enough Juvia had followed him on the mission so Gray wouldn't have to worry about the Water Mage, but if Erza was drunk-

"_Sake! _Get me some damn sake!" Erza demanded, slamming her fist against the table as the once peaceful sleepover had turned into a whole new situation as the disk with the themes was left on Lucy's desk, forgotten.

"Erza-san, please-" Wendy was cut off abruptly as Cana handed her a bottle.

"Just deal with it, it's better if you get drunk now so you can forget about anything that happened tonight." Cana snorted, taking a deep gulp of alcohol as she smirked amusedly. "Yo, Gray, we're just going to blame you for anything that happens tonight. Lucy will murder you if her apartment gets wrecked."

"_Oh, shit...Flame Brain! Hurry up, we need to get back to their apartment now!"_

Faintly, they could hear Natsu's protests and reluctance to go, but in the end the pinkette gave in.

"_We'll be there in an hour. Just don't kill the place too much until then."_

"We'll try~" They chorused as Wendy whimpered in the corner.

* * *

As soon as Gray turned off the Communication Lacrima, he turned to Natsu, his (temporary if he had any say to it!) mission partner. Juvia was also with them (for some reason Gray _really_ didn't want to know…), and she was watching Gray curiously as he spoke. "We're screwed."

"No kidding, Luce's going to kill me if her apartment gets ransacked while she's drunk. Let's go!" The Fire Dragon Slayer pumped his fist in the air, and Gray noted a little annoyedly that Ava often did the same thing. Maybe that's where her habit came from, although it could be easily switched around.

"We need to get there ASAP." Gray shuddered as he remembered the last time his teammates had gotten drunk...they had destroyed more than actually completing the mission and Master was absolutely _furious_ with them afterwards when he had to reply to yet _another_ complaint sheet from the Council.

When they had arrived, panting and utterly exhausted, in front of Lucy's apartment, they climbed up the walls using the windowsills of the below apartments as footrests, an action they had gotten used to after scaling the wall so many times to enter her apartment through her window. They had just forced the window open when the Ice Mage was tackled by Ava, the duo falling over and onto the wooden floor as the black haired girl giggled.

"Hi Graaaay…" she slurred, his name coming out more like a garble as a very distressed Juvia immediately pulled the girl off of Gray as she barely refrained from murdering her friend. The Water-Mage and Ava had gotten pretty close, with Ava supporting the girl's crush on Gray, general acceptance, and even giving advice on the things he liked (despite his annoyance and constant telling her to _stop telling her_). If it had been anyone else, really...Gray shivered at the thought. Juvia might have gone completely insane.

"Where did you go?" The girl looked adorably confused for a moment before her face scrunched up into a frown as her eyes began to water. Gray sweatdropped, putting up his hands innocently as if it wasn't _his_ fault that the girl was beginning to cry as he started to console her, although her alcohol-clouded eyes saw nothing but blurry images. Gray twitched, Natsu laughing hysterically behind him as he shot a glare to shut his teammate up. He didn't know what to do with a crying Ava. An infuriated Ava? He could deal with that. But sad? Not happening.

"H-here!" Gray searched around the room before grabbing a few snacks the girls had probably prepared for their sleepover as he handed it to Ava. "Candy! Just...please stop crying? Please?"

She quieted down for a moment, taking the candy and giving him a bright beam before popping it into her mouth and chewing the candy slowly.

_Just like a kid_, Gray couldn't help but think as he ruffled her hair fondly. He...could deal with this.

"H-h-heeeey, let's plaaay something!" Cana cheered, grabbing the disk from the table and inserting it in a music player, the machine whining for a moment before starting up. "_Natsu no Theme: Track 1." _The music started playing, a combination of violins and other string instruments and instruments like bagpipes.

"Why does _Natsu_ get a cool theme and I don't?" Ava whined pathetically. Behind her, a drunk Lucy giggled as she sat on top of her pink haired teammate, of which the Fire Dragon Slayer was trying his hardest not to wince as he switched moods and laughed maniacally, saying something about having an awesome theme compared to the rest of his teammates.

"_Titania no Yoroi: Track 2."_

Erza, who had been until that moment just complaining about the lack of alcohol, perked up as she listened to her theme before nodding in approval, crossing her arms across her chest. "It fits." Only the slight red tint on her face indicated that she was even drunk at that moment before she felt Gray's stare on her and her eyes narrowed, Scary Erza returning once again.

"_Gray no Theme: Track 3."_

As soon as the music started playing, Ava (who seemed to have sobered up just a bit) and Natsu began rolling on the floor, laughing as the percussions in the background were soon joined by an electric guitar. The increase in volume (thanks to Juvia, who wanted to hear 'Gray-sama's theme') got them laughing even more, and Gray's eyebrow twitched.

"I knew you were lame, Ice Princess, but I didn't expect your theme to be _this_ lame!" Natsu laughed, rolling on the floor and barely avoiding crashing into Ava as Lucy, who had been on him the entire time, pouted and receded to sit on her bed.

"_Hello? My_ theme's way more badass than yours, Flame Brain!" He insulted his teammate.

"No way!"

"Gray, that just didn't fit you…" Ava laughed, turning around and rolling around the floor alongside Natsu as they bumped into each other briefly, apologized, and continued their laughing fit. Gray's cheeks flushed as he glared at his teammate, betrayed.

"Oi!"

"Juvia thinks it fits you, Gray-sama!" Juvia piped up, hearts in her eyes as she clung to his left arm, and although the statement was supposed to be comforting he didn't feel any pleasure at knowing that someone enjoyed his theme. After all, it was _Juvia_. The girl had been tolerable, and perhaps even likable the first time they met as enemies, but from there everything went downhill and she acted strangely infatuated with him. But there were times when the Water Mage turned serious, and that was why he respected her.

"...thanks…" he mumbled half-heartedly as Wendy, a little tired from the rush of events, patted him on the back sympathetically. They continued to listen to songs the rest of the night, and the next day the landlady of the apartment complex couldn't help but wonder what kind of girl Lucy was as various teens, both boys _and_ girls, exited her apartment with a complete hangover the next day. It was needless to say the next mission Natsu picked the day after for the team ended in complete destruction and utter disaster.

* * *

**A/N: Soooo...this was all crack. Lol. On the bright side, we reached 50 reviews~ Hooray! I feel like writing all of these lighter stuff is bringing back my inspiration so hopefully more plot coming up.**

**Thanks for reviewing/reading/favoriting/following!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Welp. Um...unexpected one year hiatus. Whoops. I'm back. More talk on the bottom. Enjoy. :)**

* * *

_Entry 1_

_Gray gave me this diary for my fifteenth birthday, just a day before the Tenroujima incident. Even though I couldn't bear to use this at first, I think now I'll treasure it._

_It's been officially a month since I left Fairy Tail. I've been wandering places, doing nothing, seeing nothing. I'm actually not sure what to do now: after losing Mia, Fairy Tail and all my friends there had been my purpose in life for so many years._

_...I should have treasured my times there more. I can still remember their laughter, their smiles. I hear it in my dreams._

_It haunts me. I can't forget, I can't move on._

_So all I can do for now is keep moving until someone comes and picks up the pieces._

_-Ava_

* * *

_Entry 2_

_It's been 6 months._

_I miss them._

_I wonder if everyone back home misses me?_

_-Ava_

* * *

_Entry 3_

_I received an invitation from Alzack and Bisca inviting me to their wedding today. It makes me have conflicted emotions. Happiness, for them. Warmness, for not being forgotten. Wanting, to go back._

_...should I go back?_

_I can hear Gray's voice echoing through my mind to tell me yes, I should go and if not I'm a horrible person. I can hear Natsu's, saying how fun it would be._

_...I'll stop by for a few moments. It's been awhile since I've visited Magnolia._

_It's been a long time since I've referred to that place as home._

_-Ava_

* * *

_Entry 4_

_Isn't it how funny life changes when you're gone?_

_Everyone's changed, some for the better, and some for the worst. The guild has a depressed look to it, but for the wedding the streets of Magnolia are 'all fired up' as Natsu would say. He was always such a weird freak. Despite that, I still miss him._

_I gave my greetings to Alzack and Bisca, congratulating them and teasing the two for a bit. They tried to get me to stay, but I didn't want to. I left soon afterwards._

_Is that selfish of me?_

_-Ava_

* * *

_Entry 5_

_Today is the 4 year mark since the Tenroujima incident. All of Fairy Tail spent their day at the beach, staring reminiscently at the ocean where they had last seen their comrades off. After the Sun set, I finally came out of my hiding spot and sat on the sand._

_And then I was struck by a very simple thought, the sound of the waves breaking and crashing triggering in my memories as I remembered the last conversation I had held there._

_Gray, you broke your promise._

_That's when the tears finally came rolling._

_I think I feel better now. Maybe, even just by a little, I can move on now. Time's numbed the pain, I suppose._

_-Ava_

* * *

_Entry 6_

_It's the New Year. Festivals are everywhere, and at the moment I'm staying in a nice town called Cecil. I think I'll head to Lavek after: the tea's amazing, I heard from Lyon. _

_We still keep in contact and sometimes I run into him whenever on a solo-mission. It's nice to have human company every once in a while. He's kind and smart, and I respect him a lot. He's offered a spot in Lamia Scale to me numerous times but I turned him down. It just didn't feel right: his team had enough people as it was, and I always felt a little left out when meeting them._

_...it wasn't ever like that in Fairy Tail._

_Magnolia's on the way to Lavek, so I suppose I'll stop by._

_I get the feeling that something's going to happen soon, and my intuition is rarely wrong. Wish me luck._

_-Ava_

* * *

It seemed that Lyon and Ava, sometime between when Ava had excused herself to go outside on a walk and when Lyon went after her, had grown closer, Hibiki noted with reluctance as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair. He hated to admit it, but teammates could only do so much, and sometimes Ava needed a new influence to help her. Their concern would be taken as a teammate being concerned over another teammate's well being, and that was the reason that even though their team was close, they would never be as _close_ as Ava was with Lyon, and even Gray. He knew that out of the Trimens, however, he probably knew Ava best (no thanks to his intelligence, of course), and that was something that he took pride in.

It wasn't like the boys were over possessive of her, oh, far from that. It was just sort of like one of the games the Trimens always played against each other: who could get the closest to their female teammate? It was a given, considering their more...flirtatious manner (if Ava heard this all she'd snort and ask '_just_ flirtatious?').

He sighed, shoulders slumping as a wry smile came over his face as he watched his teammate bicker with Gajeel about some trivial matter-nicknames, was it? Hibiki never found the need for nicknames for his teammate (or really, anyone he knew not counting beautiful women he had just met) simply because they both didn't work and it flustered her more to just add a _-chan_ to the end of her name. She had insisted for them all just to call her 'Ava' without honorifics, but the suffix stuck solely for the purpose of ticking off his teammate. He liked to have his own fun, after all.

"Well, like a normal civilized man at this hour, I'm going to sleep." He couldn't help but add an emphasis to 'civilized' as Laxus glared at him, still sore about basically being called socially awkward around girls by the Blue Pegasus mage.

"Don't men like you usually stay up at this hour?" Ava remarked wryly as she rolled her eyes, trying to hide her amusement from his discomfort, the smirk on her face not helping as Hibiki twitched. "I'm sure there must be some lovely ladies out there to keep you company."

"...I'm sure Laxus-san does," Hibiki said cheerfully, sparkling nearly (the habit had come from their team leader: Ichiya-sama really was inspirational) as he ignored the looks of disbelief and skepticism from his current teammates. Ah, how he loved messing with people. It never got old.

"To train." Laxus glared at him, not liking what he was insinuating.

"Alas, I believe Hibiki-san's right." Lyon gave everyone a flat look as if daring them to argue. "I suggest we get to bed." He ignored the quiet snickers from Ava and Gajeel from his comment-the immaturity was nearly infectious, and it seemed like there were few people on this team that were actually _responsible_.

"Okay, Lyon-kun!" Cheria cheered, grabbing Ava by the arm as she dragged her to the girls' bedroom, and Lyon couldn't help but twitch at the 'kun' added to the end of his name.

With the girls gone, all that was left was Lyon, Hibiki, Laxus, and Gajeel. He turned around to see Hibiki and Laxus engaged in a deep staring contest with Gajeel smirking in the background. His eyebrow twitched again.

This team...had a _lot_ of work to do.

* * *

"And so I got completely drunk, no thanks to Cana of course, and began getting all of the other girls drunk." Ava laughed sheepishly, reminiscing as she told Cheria about the one time Lucy invited her to a...disastrous sleepover. "Gray and Natsu had to be called back from their mission to watch over us, but by that time Erza had already destroyed most of Lucy's furniture. She was _so_ mad afterwards."

Cheria giggled. "I can imagine. It sounds fun to be in Fairy Tail, Ava-san."

"Fun? No. Crazy? Yes. Besides, I'm not part of it anymore." She shrugged, biting her lip.

"But you are in spirit." Seeing Ava's probing look, the pink haired girl elaborated. "Despite the fact that you are no longer in Fairy Tail, you're not exactly an exemplary example of a typical Blue Pegasus mage either. You kind of feel like a mixture of the two."

…any thoughts Ava had of her teammate being a ditz had completely disappeared (or at least _partially_ disappeared, she thought as she sweatdropped while watching the mage fall to the floor after attempting to walk to her bed). "Thank you, Cheria."

"You're welcome!"

"We should go to sleep now." Ava stretched, tugging at her red nightdress for a moment before slipping into her bed, her head hitting the pillow as she welcomed the onslaught of sleep, her eyes shutting closed.

* * *

Waking up to the sound of yelling in the background was _not _the most pleasant way to start your day. Ava groaned, rubbing at her eyes sleepily as she pushed herself up so she sat on her bed, listening to the boys' voices coming from the other room. "They're as noisy as ever."

Cheria, her hair down and sort of messy, nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Cheria's eyes widened and she managed to point at the Lacrima screen and say, "A-ava-san!" Before a giant explosion rocked the earth, causing the two to fall over onto the ground.

The door soon opened, and a rather not as extravagant looking Hibiki slammed open the door, his make-up half done. He had probably rushed over to their room from the bathroom immediately to check on them without putting on the rest of his make-up.

"Are you two alright?"

"Yeah…" Ava rubbed her sore head as Cheria gave a tiny nod. "What happened?"

"It seems as if we have a few unwanted visitors." Hibiki's gaze turned towards the Lacrima Vision screen as Ava stood up, dusted herself, and grabbed her bag of scrolls and slung it over her shoulders, her gaze turned serious as she watched the screen closely. It seemed as if the intruders were trying to invade through their back door, although that wasn't boding well because Ava had prepared some Rune Magic she had borrowed from Freed a long time ago around the whole cottage just in case.

Pulling a loose green cape over her body and throwing another one to Cheria for her to cover up, Ava nodded grimly. "Let's go check things out."

"Like hell you weaklings are going to ruin our mission!" Gajeel cackled wickedly as he punched another man straight in the jaw with his iron claw as Ava couldn't help but wince, feeling sorry for the man as the Iron Dragon Slayer immediately whipped back and did a backflip, kicking another enemy in the face and still managing to land expertly on his feet.

Laxus was in the midst of the more one-sided battle as well, currently beating a poor man to a pulp for messing with his headphones. Hibiki and Ava stood back, fully content with observing and analyzing the motives of their enemies as the rest of the team quickly moved to help the two men, Lyon freezing one of the goons who tried sneaking up on him without sparing a glance at the now-frozen statue while Cheria sucked in air before releasing a giant gust of wind, "_Sky God's Bellow!"_

Their makeshift team, despite their differences, moved in unison, crushing the enemy.

"_Iron Dragon's Roar!"_ Gajeel mirrored Cheria as bits of iron flew from his mouth, swirling around in a whirlwind and knocking out several of the men.

"_Ice Make: Snow Dragon!"_ From Lyon's intertwined hands, a dragon snaked its way through the air, crushing their enemies to the ground.

"_Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"_ Laxus smashed down upon the minions, and Ava was just glad he picked a slightly weaker move so as not to completely obliterate the enemy.

"It seems like these were lower rank minions." Ava noted duly, and Hibiki nodded in assent (although perhaps they were just normal goons: their team _was_ a little over the top and that itself was an understatement).

"They might be preparing for something big if they just sent these mages to distract us."

At that ominous note, the two fell silent, contemplating their own thoughts. Faintly, in the background, cries of pain from their enemies sounded, mainly from the areas where Laxus and Gajeel were stationed as Cheria sighed, running back to them and sitting down despite the fact that there was still about 10 men left.

"I'm tired."

Ava patted her on the head, bending down and smiling at her. "You did good."

"Really?"

"Of course~" A bit of the flirtier side of Hibiki seeped into his voice and Ava shot him a glare- a firm reminder that flirting between teammates ruined team dynamics, and that Cheria was _much_ too young for him- and the man promptly shut up, insteading giving Cheria a fond look and ruffling her hair. "You did really well."

A smile tugged at Ava's face at the heartwarming scene. Hibiki might not be the best at expressing his emotions, but she was glad he was getting along fairly well with the other group members (minus Laxus, but that didn't really count).

The trio watched the rest of their team fight silently with blank expressions on their faces. Finally, Ava craned her neck to look at Hibiki and asked,

"...should we help them?"

"Nah."

* * *

**A/N: I'm really, really sorry. Somehow things came to things, I got distracted by other fandoms, I improved my writing, etc. etc. The list can go on and on, but basically I've been gone.**

**I'm back. The next few chapters are all prewritten.**

**To be honest, Cup of Tea was my first _real_ multi-chapter fanfiction that I considered somewhat thought out and developed. Looking back at it now, I somewhat wince at some parts, but this was the first work I put a lot of work into. I want to finish this story, and although the end is not in sight yet, I really want to continue it. So continue it I shall.**

**Regarding parts of the story:**

Ava: Ava was originally written on a whim. I wanted to write a character with a mysterious past, and I wanted to write a character who interacted with all the other guilds. I admit, I could have developed her character a lot more, but I do believe that she is a fun character to write with. She was feisty back in the good ol' days, mellowed out after Tenroujima, and now sort of has a flat sense of humor haha, with all sorts of fluff and fondness for her team and guilds.

Storyline: At the moment, I have no idea how far this story will go. Tbh I quit watching Fairy Tail for a while after the GMG started wandering into stranger and new territory that I sort of felt lacked the original magic of Fairy Tail at the beginning. But I'm working on it. I'd like to end it on a note that's 'final', if you know what I mean.

Romance: Currently still undecided. It's all been hints of everything, and I think that'll continue for a while.

Fairy Tail: I do not plan for Ava to rejoin Fairy Tail. She'll be Blue Pegasus till the end, since the whole point of this fanfiction was to have other guilds involved.

**Thank you to all of the kind reviews. :) I really, really mean it guys. I've read each one, fangirled over each one, and probably re-read it again. (Not to sound like a creep or anything, haha.) Truly, thank you very much.**

**The Fairy Tail fandom was the first anime fandom I wrote for, I believe, and it's always nice to be back. I'll need a bit of catch up on all of the newer episodes, and if you guys would help me with that, it'd be much appreciated haha. ;P**

**Thanks for reading. :D**


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